Sweet Dreams (lance)

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Was she done with her duties? Yes, Soleil did everything that was asked of her by the centurion, polishing all of the weapons and even making sure that all the swords were sharpened. She was quite bored of singing lullabies to herself as she worked. She watched another younger camper, like herself, walk in and after all of the hard work she had put into making sure that her responsibilities were completed before she went off to the woods to play pirates and buccaneers. Her gladius was a little bit too big for her and she preferred to use the spear, but Pirates don't use spears. They used rapiers, or at least that's what they looked like in the story books she had in her foot locker. Oh she really loved the stories that she had, her favorite stories were those of Anne Bonny and Blackbeard. She skipped on her way to the edge of the forest, humming a song while she bounced, her hair of curls bouncing as she bounced. She looked around with her hazel eyes before she tried to make sure that no one else was around. Yeah she might have laughed at that idiotic little kid that tripped over the spear on the field of Mars earlier and ended up landing on a sword or dagger, sticking it right through his thigh. Oh how she loved that look of twisted pain that warped that boys face.

Soleil swung her sword as she fought off imaginary pirates, trying to keep the seven seas from quickly being taken over by the mangy beasts. She scrambled up a tree and stood on a rather thick and sturdy branch as she swung her sword back and forth, mimicking moves that she learned into action. She twirled the sword, almost loosing control of the grip, but she quickly caught the sword before she dropped it like the total klutz that she was. Soleil wasn't sure if she was actually getting better or if it just looked like she was getting better in her own mind. Okay so maybe it was Just in her own mind, she thought as she tripped, Soleil grasped the branch like it was her only lifeline to keep herself from splattering on the ground like a retarded looking pancake.

Soleil let go of the branch and lowered herself, landing clumsily on her feet. The sword fell the the ground, nearly skinning her as it landed in the ground point downward. She gave a small huff as she tried to yank the sword from the ground. IT was to no avail. She frowned, moving to brace herself to get a better pull from the hilt of the sword. There was no luck, it was stuck pretty well. Soleil pouted as she flopped under the tree that she had been climbing on, sitting amongst the roots in a crosslegged position, leaning against the trunk of the tree relaxing as she listened to the sounds of the forest.

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Following that girl had become nearly a full time job, but there were times he just had to walk away from her. The words she used, the people she talked to, it frustrated him. He was only to be watching her, keeping an eye on her, so it was fine. Just to step away for a moment or two, He had his own training to do after all, and he did not miss a minute of it. Even with that, and the duty to watch Rhiannon, he'd make time to put in a bit of extra practice. Work on his archery, his sneaking was getting quite the work out with stalking Rhiannon. Keeping out of line of sight from so many people was bothersome, though his small stature seemed to help. His father was fairly tall, he wondered if he'd reach that height also. It'd certainly be nice to be taller, but it might impend his hiding. That was not something he looked forward to. It was about the only thing he was good for, and others were already better at it than he was.

The awful truth about that girl though, was she seemed to believe every vile word she spewed. Had she been brain washed? Thinking that the Titans would truly rule better? After what they did to the camp last time? The rift they opened up with their pretty words was coming back again. The girl even used others, and especially children to plant the idea's in peoples heads. If a child says it they are corrected and over looked, or the idea is planted there, or brought to the surface. It was a brilliant plot, but how could someone use children that way? They shouldn't be sheltered, but maybe just a little he wished they wouldn't be involved in this mess. He remembered having hardly been here in camp a year when that stupid war started. How many deaths he'd seen, and been forced to participate in. People he'd been training with dying at his sides, without him being able to do a thing for them. He hadn't run, but how much better was that? Not running, but not being able to help either? To just have the comrades at your side fall dead. Looking around now, it seemed like people have moved on. He supposed that was all good and well, staying in the past was foolish, but it's repeating. No one learned from the past. Maybe some, but not from what he could tell. If they had learned they would realize, the titans were just using them and didn't care. There would be no Golden Age, not the way they believed it to be anyway. People could be so frustrating at times, but he cared for them. Rhiannon and her sly underhanded way, Felicity and her craziness, they were good people. He was fairly sure of that.

The sun was shining, summer was in full swing and Lance just wanted a little break from everything before following after that Rhiannon girl again. He'd taken a shower and his hair was still slightly damp, though not for long in this sun. The forest seemed like a decent enough place to go, and if Rhiannon wasn't in training he was sure she'd make her way there eventually. It just meant less walking around for him later. Not to say he disliked walking around, but conservation of energy was a good thing. Stepping into the shadows of the trees the thirteen year old gazed up through the foliage. A cool blue sky laced it's way through the leaves, the wind causing it to shift and move. He loved the way that nature did things, the beautiful tree's that lined up against the sky. The vibrant colors that stood out against each other. Looking back down he could see the flowers and things that grew in and around the base of the trees.

His foot steps where light, and he subconsciously trended softly hardly making a sound. As he made his way into the refreshingly cool forest, the wind and shadows calming the razing heat, he spotted a small girl. He recognized her, Soleil if he remembered her name correctly. Her eyes were closed, and she was leaning against a tree. Near by he spotted the glint of her sword, away from her hands and blade down in the ground. He dared to take a few steps closer to her, she was a sweet girl but he hated to startle people. “Hello Miss Soleil.” a small smile washed across his face ”What brings you out here.”

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Soleil didn't realize how warm the weather was becoming. The smell of the flowers was inviting and it used to remind her of something, something vague but it was a faint memory. One of these days she would try hard to figure out where the memory came from. It was a summer day, in the memory, there was a smell of flowers, sweet flowers, and a smell of rain. That was where the memory stopped. She couldn't figure out what or where it was from. It just bugged her, here she was sitting in the grass, smelling something that smelled vaguely familiar. Her eyes grew drowsy, like they were made of lead. She panicked, briefly. No, she could not fall asleep right now. Not here, not again. There was no fighting it though, it was a fruitless effort. She couldn't fight the sleep. It was like trying to keep the ocean from crashing upon the sand. She rolled back and forth, nodding her head, as she kept trying to fight sleep. If anything she tried to put herself in a more uncomfortable position so she wouldn't be comfortable enough to fall asleep. Already she could feel the fear closing in around her, the tightness of the dark and the smell of rust and fear was closing in on her. Her heart was pounding and the adrenaline was coursing through her veins. Even with her fight of flight response going into overdrive, she still couldn't fight against the drowsiness that threatened to over take her.

Dreams. Dreams were usually some solace and they were a place to escape from the real world. While Soleil had learned that dreams were not normally that way for demi-gods, there were some that actually had dreams that were normal. She could feel her heart pumping, pounding through her chest like it was trying to escape. She ran. The air was cold, damp, it clung to her like it was trying to suffocate her. She felt like she was slogging through mud, her running was sluggish and no matter how fast she tried to run, it wasn't fast enough. She screamed, seeing a monster behind her. Drenched in blood and faceless, wrapped in wire, keeping the bleeding parts of it attached. It's appendages were contorted in impossible ways. It opened it's mouth and roared, needled and rotten teeth emitting a horrid smell as she reached out, trying to dive away from it, under it to escape.

As she dreamed a nightmare, she thrashed about physically. Her head shook from side to side and she started to become drenched in a night sweat. At the sound of her name being called, she reached out to touch whomever called her. A low moan escaping her as she grasped out for whomever called her name. A physical touch, something, anything to bring her back into the present world. Soleil's body gave an involuntary sob of fright and twitched, recoiling briefly as if she had been struck.