(AN) After a relaxing and peaceful holiday, I have returned to keep my promise and finish this story. Been a while. :) I hope you didn't miss me too much!

April moved into May, May rolled onto June as Ashlynn and I slowly crept through the vast sea of farm fields known as the Canadian prairies. Life was pretty simple now. We woke up at some hotel or motel, or if we never reached a town before sunset we camped out in our tents. After a breakfast, we took off, drove west on the country roads that seemed empty and far from the highways, where the eyes of countless monsters patiently waited for us.

I have not mentioned it much, but I had been reading Archies book. Every night, before some warning for the next day sent from my parents in my dreams, I would read several chapters. It was hard to beleive that my dad endured so many pains, that he was chased by ravaging gods, monsters and whatever Cronus would spit up from his volume of tricks and plots to destroy my dad and the team. It seemed so much like a little cartoon show, but deep down, I knew that the truth was that this was all too real.

I wished my dad had told me about his story, his legend. But he didn't. Neither of them didn't. My parents never told me. I hated them for it, but I knew that it was only for my safety. I realized that these attacks only really started after my dad disappeared. It was like the monsters were waiting for me to head out on my own, unprotected. He must have put me in the placement of poor Odie to continue that level of protection. Some protection dad.

Speaking of Odie, his trial was a disaster. The jury was completely biased and agreed to him being guilty of all charges. All the judges and the lawyers seemed to be surprised. Odies lawyer even said that they seemed possessed by something. It was all a big mess. It all made me feel guilty for leaving him to suffer for the rest of his life behind bars. But I made a promise. A promise that I would keep or take to my grave; to get him out of there.

So far, no more heroes of New Olympia had been arrestedr. Ashlynn was always on end when we watched the news. Beads of sweat coming down on her tanned complexion. Every time. Since that event back with the McSweeney gang, we've been getting closer. We're best friends all the way really. Its more comfortable sleeping in the same room. We had one incident where she accidentally walked in on me having a shower. Her face as red as her hair, she shut the door immediately. We laughed it off later. Her fighting skills have grown beyond mine now. She was faster, more agile, and performed deadly blows as if she had fought like that her whole entire life. I remember one night we decided to challenge each other to a fight. For fun obviously. She had me down pretty quickly but then I lifted her up with one hand, lifting her just out of reach of me so she couldn't attack me. Good times. :)

I sensed Medea pretty much the whole time. She was definetly following us. We beat her up pretty badly back in Winnepeg, so she hadn't been attacking. Just keeping at a safe distance, watching our every move. That didn't stop her giants from attacking. Every other day, some godzilla or a minotaur or harpy or some sort of monster had a go at us. We always either knocked it out or sent it running with it's tail between its legs. I sometimes wondered if Medea was this unspoken one. I doubted it. Medea was awoken somehow from the dead, spokbut she isen of in myths. How could she be the unspoken one? Besides, she had a master. She said so herself.

My tried to ask my dad what happened to him in my dreams everytime he showed up in my dreams. He would never reveal it, like he was still trying to hide the truth, like the truth that I had learnt out of his lies already. The unreachable truth was mental torture.

July 1st. Canada Day. Ashlynn and I woke up from our room in a hotel a few hours out of Calgary. It was early morning but the smell of barbecues and pemeal bacon filled the tiny town already. I woke up first, climbed out of my sleeping bag and stared out on the balcony. Whiffing the smokey air and admiring the orange sunrise.

Today was going to be a good day.

Ashlynn got up shortly after and stole the bathroom, despite the fact I had already been in. She walked out with a towel around her body. I turned around to say good morning. She smiled and signaled me to look away. I was not one for being disrespectful so I looked back onto the distance, staring into the far east. Odie was out there somewhere, locked up for saving the world.

"You, know. We haven't been in a city for ages. I think we should head into Calgary today, maybe see the fireworks. Celebrate." Ashlynn suggested. I began to turn around, presuming she had done changing but she stopped me before I saw anything.

"Did I say you could look?"

"Sorry. Thought you were done. I'm not sure. We would be risking others if we go into town."

"For gods sake Herry, we just fought off a large number of bad guys yesterday. They usually wait two or three days before attacking again anyways. You can sense danger like ten minutes before it happens now too. And besides, its a holiday. Let's have some fun please?" Her voice was trying to be persuasive. She was trying to charm me with her pretty voice. Too bad I was a sucker for pretty voices.

"Alright." I sighed. "Just for tonight, then we resume our path. Can I look back now?"

"Aye aye captain, and yeah you can." Looked around to see Ashlynn looking remarkably different. Instead of wearing her tom boy outfit with skinny jeans and a paramore t shirt, she was in a hollister tank and short shorts. Hell, she looked great. She made me look rather tacky in my converses, my scruffy jeans and half dirty H&M t shirt.

"Is there an event I don't know about?" I joked curiously.

"I felt like changing. Got a problem with that?" She smiled. I laughed and we headed off.

It was an amazing day. We started out buying special red and white iced cappucinos from Tim Hortons, we moved on to a large outdoor concert with tons of local bands and the legends, Hedley showed up played several songs as well like Young and Stupid along with Never too Late. We managed to get some pictures with them once they disappeared backstage. The guys were older than my parents but still looking great. That went on for the whole afternoon. Ashlynn and I stopped for some lunch at an Irish pub and had dinner at a really nice restaurant. Having millions of dollars at my exposal was very handy. There was no way someone needed half a billion dollars. One percent of it could last you a whole lifetime. The best part was that I didn't sense danger. None at all. It was like Medea stopped following us once we entered the city.

"Come on Herry. If we get there earlier, we will get better seats." Ashlynn pulled me by the hand around the park, where fireworks were to happen once then sun disappeared from the horizon. We sat down with extra large slushies and a popcorn to share on the side of a hill facing the river, where a barge carrying millions of dollars worth of fireworks waited. We waited eagerly for the sun to disappear beneath the surrounding skyscrapers.

As the last rays disappeared beneath the horizon, I looked at Ashlynn. The dark pink sky reflected off of her skin and only then, did I beautiful she was. I recall saying that she looked good when I first met her, but that was before I left home with her, saved her skin, her saving mine a few times. There was something different about her now. I felt those butterflies you get in your stomach when you're nervous. I recognised that feeling. I asked my self;

Was she always this beautiful?

BOOM

The twanging of a guitar fell right in sync with a golden firework. The embers falling down from the sky like they were sent from the heavens themselves. The crowd instantly stood up to cheer and roar in excitement. We joined them. As the music and the fireworks continued, they became only more glorious and bigger. There were fireworks of red and white and countless other colours around it. The fireworks were like stars, falling from the skies to join us down here. It seemed magical.

I felt an urge at that point. It was like I had no control over my hand. It just happened. My hand snuck its way over to Ashlynns and held it gently. Surprised by the sudden feeling around her hand, Ashlynn looked to see what it was and looked back to me. She smiled from ear to ear and we interlocked our fingers together. Holding hands. Not like the way she was pulling me around earlier. This hold was gentle and well, affectionate. It was something I had never really felt before. I had never felt like this towards any other girl in my life ever. Not that one girlfriend back in grade 9, not that girl I had a little crush on back in Kindergarten. No. This was different.

To be honest, I was a nervous wreck at this point. I was expressing my feelings and she could have said no and the rest of this journey would be uncomfortable and awkward. But she didn't. She kept her hand around mine. Maybe there was another reason why I felt so nervous. It was because I realized that she felt the same way back. I never really considered myself important to anybody when it came to such feelings. Now there was this and well, it was amazing. My hand moved from her hand to her waist eventually and held her closer. At first I expected her to push me away, but instead, she leaned into me and wrapped her arm around my ribs. It felt great, you know, holding her and her holding me.

Like all things, the firework show, ended. People began to leave the park, leaving cigarette butts and gatorade bottles all over the ground, but Ashlynn and I were sitting down together, still on the hill. We were looking up into space, staring at the cloudy sky. We almost fell asleep out there. The warm summer night air filled our lungs and out came words and laughter. Eventually, we headed back to a local hotel in the city

We walked into the room. It had only one bed. Knowing the drill, I began unrolling the sleeping bag.

"You know what Herry, why don't you come up here? Its probably more comfy than the rock hard floor."

"Uh, sure." I said nervously. I rolled up the sleeping bag and joined her side on the king sized double bed. We decided to watch some TV before we hit the sack. Diego Coast was on. (Future Jersey Shore XD) We watched it for a while. Well, I watched it. Half way through, I noticed that Ashlynn had fallen asleep on me. He head was resting on my chest as she slept peacefully. Deciding not to ruin the moment or wake her up, I carefully slouched down to a lying position and turned off the TV.

I was not down for a depressing dream that night...

(AN) Okay, that was a little fluffy. Romance is not my strength don't judge me. :P I would just like to remind you all of the horrible event in Norway yesterday, where over 100 people were shot. Please have them in your thoughts and prayers (if you pray). I wish the best for the families of the deceased. RIP

BTW I was not paid to say that.

PCE

-AngryOlympian