~ALY~

I had finally given in to the darkness that had begun to fill my vision. Percy's frantic voice, along with Jason and Annabeth's worried ones, died away as I slipped into unconsciousness.

I found myself then in a small room, with a soft carpet underneath my toes and soft music playing. The coffee table held a cup of hot chocolate on it, which I gladly took. The taste was sweet.

My living room, I thought, although that wasn't what the living room had looked like at my other house. The living room at the house I knew of was home-y but it was a little bit bigger, and didn't have a radio in it.

"You will remember this place soon enough." I heard a soft voice say. I turned and saw Vesta tending to a small fireplace her red eyes glowing warmly, in both the kind sense and the literal sense. I gulped.

"Th-this is my home isn't it? The one I lived in before my memories were taken, right?" I asked. My voice was strangely calm. Vesta smiled at me mysteriously- and gently prodded the flames with what looked to be a golden stick.

"You have really worried Percy and the others. You took quite a beating from Salacia." She said, not responding to my question, as if the pain from the bruises weren't any indication.

"Wow, you don't say? I thought the bruises would-" my sarcastic voice died away as I looked down at my arms. They were bruise-free, and pain-free. I touched my face. My eye was no longer swollen. It was as if I had never been hurt.

"H-how...?" I managed to gasp, unable to finish my statement.

"You should learn to show more respect," Vesta told me, her voice sharper than before, "I may not be one of the Twelve, but I am still an Olympian, and will be treated as such."

I felt myself flinch. I bowed my head in respect. "Yes Lady Vesta" I murmured humbly. Vesta seemed pleased at my apology, for her face softened.

"The bruises are gone because you are dreaming. Your body still holds the marks, but they are gone here." She told me. I sighed softly. I did not want to wake up in pain.

Trying to distract myself from the pleasant prospect of waking up to a swollen eye, and snake-like bruises covering me, I looked around the house, which niggled at the back of my mind- but produced no images, no memories.

How depressingly familiar that sensation was becoming to me.

As, if reading my mind, Vesta said to me: "You have remembered not- but you will soon."

"When?" I asked. It did not seem to be soon. Vesta gave me another mysterious smile. "Curiosity is the bane of humanity," she murmured, continuing to tend to the crackling hearth, "Pandora's demise came because of curiosity, you know."

I frowned in aggravation. It took all of my energy not to scream at the goddess. However, I refrained, calmly saying:

"I don't get it. If you are just going to give me cryptic statements, why, then, am I here?"

"Because I am to warn you." she replied, her eyes focused on the orangish-red flames.

"Warn me of what?"

"Acceptance is a hard thing. When you get to where you are going, there will be those who will not believe your story. They will accuse you of being a liar, a maddened fool."

"Where am I going and what will I need acceptance to? I thought Camp Half-Blood was my destination." I told her, even more aggravated- but just as confused.

"Camp Half-Blood is only your first stop. It is there you will find out of what you have missed in the past 7 or 8 years, but after that, is much to do."

I nearly spat out the hot coco I was drinking.

"I have had my memory erased for 8 years?!" I gasped. "Are you kidding me?!" I knew I had a small amount of amnesia, but...well, dang!

"Well, no," Vesta said slowly, as if figuring out the correct way to tell me, "you had the first 8 years erased completely, but these past 8 years you've lived under isolation, under Mist." she smiled as she said Mist, as if she just used clever word play.

"S-so my whole life is been screwed up?!" I managed to choke out. She nodded and sighed. Just great! I thought sarcastically.

"I tried to argue with the gods, but they wouldn't have it. They insisted it was the only option to maintaining peace." she said, then added: "I am actually not supposed to be conversing with you right now, but since you are my champion, I figured it best."**

Although the word champion confused me, I decided not to dwell on it, figuring it to be more of a headache than it was worth. I decided to ask:

"So my amnesia is the only way to keep the gods from going to war?" when she nodded, I asked:

"But why?"

She sighed once more. Although she was still at the age of a twelve year old, the look in her eyes portrayed the many centuries of living that she had to endure.

"It is Salacia. She does not like you," I wanted to asked "Why?" but she continued before I could: "You are a girl, and like Juno with Jupiter, Salacia is quite jealous of other women being in Neptune's life."

"But I am not going to marry him! He's my dad! It wasn't my fault he liked my mom!" I protested. Vesta chuckled softly.

"True. But Salacia sees you as competition. She threatened to declare war against the gods- and any time war starts, the gods always split to either side. Jupiter could not take this risk, and so it was voted to erase your memory."

"So my whole life was taken away from me because of one backwards ocean lady?!" I cried incredulously.

"She may be insane, but she is still a goddess," Vesta said sternly, but then added: "At least your father softened the blow. She was asking to kill you."

I gaped at her. I wanted to reply with something along the lines of "Oh yes, I am so grateful that I can't remember anything, and that I am not dead"- when I heard a voice say: "Aly? Aly?" It sounded like Annabeth.

"You are beginning to awaken. You must get ready for your next phase of the journey ahead."

"B-But-"

"Goodbye, my champion." said She, as the dream dissipated.

Hey guys, I am SO, SO sorry for the insane amount of time I have been gone. I just had a huge level of writer's block, and I just did not know where to go to from the last chapter. But then the idea for Aly's dream popped up, so here I am! :D

I hope this was interesting, and at least a little worth the wait. We find out more of Aly's past- AND why she has amnesia in the first place! Woohoo!

I have had no reviews from the last chapter (probably because most people thought I had disappeared).

Well, that's all folks!

'Til next time:

Love, Peace, and Pie!

~Evy :)