lights gone, days end {just read}

Hale bit his lip and stood just outside of his cabin, straining his still adrenaline pumped mind to remember how he used to feel about the place. He had been gone for roughly four months, just four short months, but he had lost all recollection of camp after being forced through the suffering the he induced. The one with lasting affects. The one that took away his childhood. In four short months, Hale had gone from being a suicidal 13 year old to a strong 17 year old. He couldn't remember his exact birthday, but he was pretty sure it was close to Christmas, which he knew was his favorite holiday. It was funny what he remembered and what had slipped his mind.

Being in the underworld wasn't even the worst part of his year. Killing six, yes, six campers was. Hale had to face them in different mirrors of his torture room. He watched them live, and he watch himself kill them, and he watched what their life would have been, and what they were leaving behind. His face scared him the most in the mirrors. He had appeared emotionless, maybe even cold, as if someone owed him something. He had to watch himself kill himself as well. He watched the life slip out of him. Hale feared ever dying again. He defied fate, and had already gone though it twice, but now was different. Now he had only one weak point, and no one knew about his bath in the arrived Styx. He could be fresh. He could tell people that Hades let him out because he saw potential in Hale growing as a person, or saving lives, or having a do-over without having to go through the rebirthing process. Any one of the lies Hale came up with could be convincing, and they would work. He couldn't let anyone know the real reason he was back. He hadn't been brave enough to face his torture any longer, and he had needed to get out. He had become strong, but mentally, he was still the flawed Hale Drem.

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Hale shook his head and stepped hesitantly though the doors of his old cabin. He wasn't sure if anyone would be there. He wasn't sure if his things were still in the cabin leader room. He wasn't even sure who had taken over as Cabin Leader, but he knew that one way or another, people were going to know he was back at camp in a matter of hours. Everyone would know, and then there would come the reaction. Nervously, Hale shuffled his feet and stood in the middle of the cabin, staring wide eyed at everything inside. He wanted to panic. He wanted to turn back, but he had come too far. It was time to be happy again.

ooc: none of this will make any sense unless you read hale's bio in my character profile. also, this is just open to characters who were really really really close to hale. i'm talking best friends. people who were cabin leaders with him, siblings who went through a lot of rp's with him, people who could tell you what hale liked and didn't like. if you don't know if your character was friends with hale or not, they weren't. but if they were, please, post away! that's a demand. ;D

hmmm... like anne, perhaps?

Anne's gaze flickered around the cabin, dully, before her dark, velvety blue eyes returned to Hale. The two teens had definitely grown up in their time at camp within about three months. They'd gone from angsty problematic, love stricken preteens to mature, love stricken almost adults. Anne wanted to say that they'd really gone far in the past few months, but she wasn't particularly sure that Hale had made it well for himself... as she hadn't seen him in four months. Since their little battle at the creek where Hale nearly killed her, too, making his death toll seven instead of six, she'd disappeared again, beating her old curse to work with Kronos. Ever since Hale had tried to kill her, Anne became a machine.

For the past four months, she'd done nothing but slaughter monster after monster, after monster. She'd been one of the best archers that Kronos had aquired from CHB. However, Anne wasn't about to kill demigods and that was what Kronos had wanted. He wanted her completely broken. Anne wasn't completely broken. You see, as a child, Anne had been quiet and shy, but she still had fun and knew how to get along with the other kids, but as she grew up she realized that her adoptive parents had lied to her about her birth. She had wanted to know where she came from and after she turned thirteen, Anne turned into a whip-smart, smart-alecky thirteen year old girl. She'd learned how to fight with Kronos's army and she'd come back to camp looking for a fight. She didn't find one, though. She someone managed to find her old love, Hale. Hale hadn't looked good when she'd found him either. His eyes had been sunken into his head and dark circles lined his eyes, exhaustion weighing deep in his shoulders. But, like her, a fire burned in his eyes. Unlike her, the fire was wild and driven in a murderous rage. Anne had more of an angsty, dark rage. And so after they fought and nearly died, Anne ran away, deserting Hale to do Gods know what.

So she was back in Kronos's army again. Where she turned into a machine. Now, because of her breaking point, Kronos began to push her harder and harder until she snapped one day in training and shot her instructor in the face with her crossbow. She'd felt extremely sorrowful and remorseful that she'd done it, but Kronos was proud. He wasn't that proud when he came back and saw her sobbingon the floor. That was her personal breaking point. however, the point that Kronos was pushing her towards wasn't it. He yanked her off the ground by her hair and threw her into a chair, tying her arms swifty behind her neck and her legs to either sides of the chair. Now, throughout her time at the enemy camp, the time lord had figured out what Anne feared most. Dying, bugs, drowning, and being close quarters with many people in small rooms. That was how he tortured her, too. He took all of her worst fears and set her up in a room with all of them and tortured her into a breaking point. After she was tortured, Anne escaped back to CHB, and somewhere along the way, she'd miraculously turned into a beautiful seventeen year old girl.

Anne resurfaced from her thoughts, pressing her slightly sticky forehead against the cool oak wood of the door frame. Her gaze returned to Hale's back as he paced around the room and she flitted over to him, her feet padding along the floor softly. Anne reached up, running the tips of her fingers along his shoulder-blades. "I missed you," was what came out her mouth. She wasn't going for that. She was really going for something like, 'How were you?' or something equally as stupid. "I love you, Hale," was what came out next. Anne almost recoiled at her words. Holy crap. But, no. She did love him. She loved him in every sense of the word.

Hale didn't jump when Anne touched his back, but he did slowly turn around. He looked surprised, as if he'd been caught doing something bad. "Anne..." he whispered, touching the side of her cheek. His hand shook as he forced himself to be gentle with his old girlfriend, possibly current girlfriend. He wasn't sure what had changed in their time apart. "You're all grown up, kiddo." Hale smiled sadly when Anne told him she loved him and shook his head. "I'm not good enough for you," he chuckled. "I love you more." Hale closed the space between them in a brief but lingering kiss. His hand trailed down her face and rested on her neck, where it began to shake, so he pulled it away. "So I'm not dead," he joked, trying to find his old self in his new body. Hale had some stubble growing on his jawline, but it was blond and not extremely noticeable. He looked very similar, but he had obviously hit his growth spurt. "Have you been—are you doing okay?" Hale wasn't sure what to ask the star, so he mumbled something stupid, trying to get himself caught up.

Hale sighed and pushed back some of Anne's hair, shaking his head, but grinning as goofily as he used to. "You're insane. I really missed you." Instead of kissing Anne again, he wrapped her in a tight hug without hesitation, though he would have felt silly doing so back when he was 13. When he pulled away, he frowned, having thought over the nymph's response. "What happened?" he whispered, grabbing her hand and sitting down on a nearby, clean looking couch. His ears perked up in interest as he waited almost impatiently for an answer. He felt the urge to joke about everything he was saying, but fought it, understanding that if he was younger and his problems were smaller, that would have been how he would have handled things. Now, though? Hale didn't know who he was. He didn't know how to remain subtle. His voice was insistent, his eyes begging for honesty. "We'll be safe here."

what have i done

If Hale's look of concern could have been considered a grin, his smile dropped. As Anne started talking. They had hurt her. They had hurt his star. Pulling her onto his lap, Hale buried his face in her neck and bit back sobs. "I killed myself," he whispered, and it sounded weird coming out of his mouth. "It doesn't make you weak. You're still my girl." Hale smiled sadly, though his face was still pressed into the nymph's hair.

Hale lifted his face away when it started to grow red from anger. Kronos couldn't win. He simply couldn't. If he did, he would be getting away with torturing Anne. Now, it was way beyond personal. "You never have to go back. Stay with me. We can be normal again," he reassured her repeatedly, almost going to hysterics to keep himself together. He sunk into her hug and took a deep breath. "I'll never let you go," he said with youthful determination. The very same that he would have had upon first entering camp, when his expectations were high and his optimism was through the roof. "It's Hanne, Anne. You keep me me." Hale rested his chin on Anne's head and hugged her tighter, not strong enough to inflict any real pain. He had gotten so weak, just getting tortured all summer. He didn't look hollow, but he was. A different kind of small than when he had been a murderer. This new form weighed more heavily on his now existing conscience. And it made him want to die again.

what have i done