As he placed her lifeless body inside the ice coffin,
he
felt both anger and frustration. He pushed the
hair off her face,
hoping to see those green eyes open
even if they were just to glare at him in
anger. But
those eyes did not open, and the body
remained
motionless. “Why? Why does it have to come to
this?
Why couldn’t you have just came to me? I would have
protected
you from all this.” He kneeled down beside
her, “what it is about you
that can bring me to my
knees? Is it your misguided sense of
loyalty? Your
ability to look past the mistakes and accept
the
imperfections?”
He waited, but there was no answer, only the
soft
echoes of his own voice. “Didn’t you know that there
are just
some battles that you can’t win? Was it
really worth it? I could
have given you the world,
but you didn’t want that, did you? You would
rather
risk your life fighting for those who couldn’t even
appreciate what
you were doing for them. You would
rather take on all of the Olympians
for the sake of
one child. Gods Gabrielle, why did you have to be
so
stubborn?”
He picked up her sais and placed one beside
her. As
he stared at its twin, images of her flashed across
his
mind. After a year of absence, she came back with
a new weapon, a hair
cut and a new attitude. There
was no mistake about it, she had
buried the old
childlike Gabrielle and came back determined to follow
the
path of the warrior. “Much as I appreciate your
new found skills,
there will always be a place in my
heart for the old you.” He
whispered.
He stared at her, so peaceful as if she were asleep.
He
ran a hand down her cheek and recoiled. Instead of
warm flesh, all he
could feel was ice. “This is the
only place I could think of to put
you. You are safe
now Gabrielle, no one will ever hurt you again.
You
will have your friend beside you; I promise you. Rest
in peace
Gabrielle, you don’t have to fight anymore.”
He stood up and closed the
lid. All he could see now
is a blurred image of her through the
ice. Ares
sighed and disappeared in a flash of
lights.