"If we could look into each other's hearts and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other more gently, with more love, tolerance and care."

~ @poemsporn via Twitter

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Third Person's P.O.V

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    Ares muttered a string of Greek curses under his breath as he snapped "The History Of Dark Ones" shut. Kneeling down, he placed the history book on the floor before turning around to grab the next book from the pile he was assigned to. The young man sighed when he realized that although it was nearly nightfall, he had only gone through about a quarter of his pile. Sparing a glance over his shoulder, he scanned the room for his sister.

    Fortunately, the room was small, so he didn't need to search for long. But he spotted movement in his peripheral vision and his attention was drawn to a certain dark-haired boy in the room. Will stood a mere two metres away from him, his nose buried within the pages of the book he was reading, his back to the wall. Clad in a dark jacket and ripped jeans Ares couldn't help but be reminded of his ex.

    It had been almost four years since Ares had last seen Haziq. Four years since he'd last held him in his arms, when Ares told him of his decision to make his departure for Phoenix with his sister. Haziq was devastated, of course, but respected Ares's reasons for wanting to leavs everything behind. Four years since he'd last felt the chocolate-eyed boy's lips on his as he tangled his slender hands in Haziq's hair—

    Stop, Ares chided himself sternly as he tightened his grip on the leather bound book in his hands. Stop thinking about the past.
    Shaking his head, Ares pushed the memories of his ex-boyfriend away and returned his attention back to the task at hand. His senses were assaulted by a cloud of dust that hit his face when he opened the book's pages. Turning back to his seat, Ares was startled when he come face-to-face with his sister.

    "—okay?"
    Ares blinked, shaking his head. "Sorry, sis, I didn't hear that. Did you say something?"
    "Really?" Hestia let out an exasperated sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You know what, never mind."
    "No, seriously, I didn't hear you speak," Ares repeated, placing his hand on his sister's shoulder to prevent her from leaving.

    Hestia shook her head as if saying, "I can't believe this guy" before looking her brother dead in the eye. Ares visibly gulped when he caught the serious look on his sister's face, expecting to hear some bad news.
    "Are you alright?" Hestia asked.
    "What?"
    "Are you—"
    "I heard your question," Ares replied, raising his hand up to stop her. "And I'm fine."

    "Really? There's nothing on your mind?" Hestia pressed.
    "Nothing." And everything.
    "I don't believe that for a second," she argued, snatching the book from her brother's hand.
    "I was reading that."
    "No you weren't," she stated, crossing her arms. "Now, tell me what's wrong. You've been acting weird these past few days."

    "I think that it's a very hard for me to give a straightforward answer to that question," he replied, moving forward to grab the book.
    "Can you not?" he asked, annoyed, when Hestia raised the book over her head, but not out of his reach.
    "No," she replied firmly, shaking her head.
    "You're making a mountain out of a molehill," he tsked.

    "Tell me what's wrong," she demanded, ignoring his previous statement.
    "Look," Ares bit the inside of his cheek, feeling the others' eyes trained on them. "Can we not do this right now?" he asked, keeping his voice low so that only she could hear.
    "No," Hestia replied stubbornly.
    Ares let out a repressed sigh, then reached over his sister's head to pluck the book from her hands.

    Hestia glared at the smug look on her older brother's face as he tauntingly opened the book in front of her face.
    "We'll talk later," she muttered as she walked past him.
    Not if I can help it, Ares thought to himself as he slumped back down onto the almost threadbare loveseat.

****

    Night had fallen in the little town of Storybrooke, and far away from the town square was a small group of men making their way to a find the citizens of a fallen kingdom. The woods were quiet, save the faint sound of crickets' mating calls and dry foliage being crushed under the weight of a tyre as an auburn pickup truck drove through the menacing dark woods. A cluster of tents soon appeared in the distance, the scattered bonfires casting a strange glow on the refugees' temporary home.

    The truck slowed to a stop when it passed by the entrance of the camp, where two ancient cedar trees loomed over the vast land. The car's headlights shut off with a click as the driver took the keys out of the ignition. A man in a blue dress shirt and dark jeans stepped out of the vehicle, followed by two other men, one dressed in a black leather jacket with a sword attached to his belt, and the other clad in full hunter's gear, armed with a bow and a quiver full of arrows.

    "That's Arthur's tent," David pointed out, nodding his head towards the largest tent in the field.
    A faded yellow tent stood in the middle of the other smaller tents, an obvious air superiority surrounding it. A red flag with the fallen kingdom's insignia, the fabled Excalibur, was displayed proudly on a flagpole near the entrance.
    "I'll go in first—" he volunteered, cocking his gun as he approached the  tent. "—you two stand guard."

    "And if our dishonest King should put up a fight?" Robin Hood asked, matching his pace with the Prince's.
    "We'll make him wish he hadn't," Killian answered, brandishing the point of his hook.
    David ducked under the eave of the tent, his sights set on finding lying king. The tent was furnished with two portable beds, a chest and a hodgepodge of foldable chairs arranged haphazardly around a long table.

    Bear hides were thrown over the seats in a weak attempt to make the makeshift home seem cosy. An uncorked bottle of red wine rested on the tabletop, two half-empty wine glasses next to it. Arthur and his wife sat in the chairs at the far end of the table, engaged in a hushed conversation, their hands interlocked.
    "Arthur," David began, announcing his presence.
    The said King looked up at the mention of his name, stopping whatever conversation he was having with his wife.

    "David," he acknowledged, smiling at the man before him. "Good to see you, my friend."
     "Come," Arthur gestured towards the chair to his left. "Sit. Join us."
    "Why don't you explain why you lied to me?" David asked, keeping his tone conversational and light.
    The Prince didn't miss King Arthur's relaxed smile faltering when he uttered those words, nor did he miss the fact that Arthur hadn't denied it. Yet.

    "Why you tried to burn the Crimson Crown," he elaborated, as if his previous statement wasn't enough.
    Queen Guinevere pulled back from Arthur's grasp, shooting her husband a confused look.
    Arthur clenched his hand into a fist when his wife retracted hers. "So you found me out—"
    "Yeah, I found out," David interjected, unable to mask the look of utter betrayal and disappointment from his eyes. "Friend."

    "Now that part was real," Arthur claimed.
    "Ah, it doesn't matter," the Prince replied, bottling up whatever emotions that raged within him. "Not anymore."
    Arthur looked down at his hands before looking back up at the man he'd once called a friend.
    "But I want answers,"  David stated. "See, there was a message in there from Merlin. It said there was only one person who could destroy the Dark One. Someone named Nimue."

    Guinevere had stayed silent throughout the entire ordeal which left the Prince wondering if she knew of her husband's wicked plan or if she had been kept in the dark like him.
    "You tell me who that is," he ordered, aiming his gun at Arthur, leaving no room for any argument.
    Guinevere silently got up from the table before moving out of shooting range and the Prince was sure that he had beaten Arthur at his own game... Until the King retaliated by flipping the table in David's direction.

    Arthur grabbed the sword attached to his scabbard and made quick work of his escape.
    "He's getting away!" David yelled when he heard the sound of the tent being ripped open.
    Killian's head immediately jerked towards the direction of David's voice, looking up just in time to see Arthur running off into the darkest part of the woods. The one handed man quickly took off in a sprint, hot on the King's heels.

    The pirate was panting heavily by the time he managed to catch up to the King.
    For a man in dressed in chain armor, Killian thought as he closed the distance between them. He's quite fast.
     He would have lost the chase if it weren't for the fact that Arthur glanced over his shoulder just as he was nearing thicket of trees, the minor distraction causing the him to trip over a protruding tree root.

    The King let out a grunt of pain, falling onto the damp soil. Seeing the older man fall, Killian slowed to a stop, calmly stepping over the flora that brought the King's demise. The one handed man strolled towards the fallen King, so sure of himself, that he was the one who had the upper hand. It wasn't until he felt Arthur trip him when he realized that the King was not going down without a fight. Killian landed next to Arthur with a loud thud, dropping his sword in the process.

    The pirate struggled to grab his weapon. Unfortunately, he was a second too slow as Arthur had already gotten to his feet and had his sword fixed on the man on the ground.
    "Look at that," Arthur panted when the pirate raised his hands in defeat. "Seems you've brought a hook to a sword fight."
    "Actually, I brought a sword," Killian corrected, looking behind. The hilt of his weapon was on the ground, just out of his reach. "But I seem to have misplaced it."

    "Shame," Arthur remarked, looking down at the unarmed man. "It's always the simple mistakes that get us killed."
    Killian didn't close his eyes. He refused to die with his eyes closed, and if this was finally it, if he were to die here, then he would die with his eyes fixed on his killer. Time slowed as Arthur raised his blade, then swung the sword over his head. Killian immediately thought of Emma and how she would react when they found his body in the woods.

    I hope they find a way to save Emma, he thought as Arthur brought the sword back down.
    It was such a swift movement that it would've ended his life if it weren't for the shadow that emerged from behind him. The sound of metal clashing with metal sounded as another blade appeared out of thin air, stopping the killing stroke just inches away from the pirate's head. The shadowy figure disarmed Arthur with the flick of their wrist, shocking the King.

    Killian craned his neck in the direction of the wielder, not the least bit surprised that it had been Emma who had come to his rescue. Again. Seeing as Arthur was defenseless, Emma raised the point of her sword to his neck whist the King quickly scrambled away from her until his back came into contact with the tree behind him. A spark of recognition flashed in his eyes when he looked down at the deadly weapon's blade, the patterns on its edges calling to him the way a child is attracted to the dancing flames of a fire.

    "Excalibur," Arthur gasped, his breathing shaky at the sight of the sword. He looked up into the eyes of its wielder. "It's whole."
   "It is, yes," Emma replied monotonously. "But it's not going to help you. This sword does't control anyone now."
    The white-haired woman then waved her hand in the shell-shocked King's direction, sending him flying into a nearby tree, knocking him unconscious in the process.

   Killian knelt down to pick up his weapon. "I supposed I should say "thank you"."
    "You don't need to say anything. Just don't do that again," Emma snapped, her eyes as sharp as steel.
    "I should apologize for what I said that day aboard my ship," he amended.

   "For when you refused to accept me or for when you said you did not love me?" she asked icily.

   "It's a bit more complicated than that," Killian replied, dodging her question.
   "Doesn't matter. I'm The Dark One."
   "You're more than The Dark One, you're still you," he stated, continuing when he saw that his words had caused her piercing gaze to soften ever so slightly. "You saved me, that was Emma."
    "What do you want from me?" she demanded, her vulnerability showing for half a second before flicking away as soon as it had appeared.

   "I want to help you, and I need your help to do it," he stated, taking a step closer to her. "Who's Nimue? And how can she help defeat the darkness?"
    Emma flinched at the mention of the strange name, but replied by saying, "Nimue doesn't matter anymore."
    "This will all be over tomorrow," she assured him.
    "What would be over? And why do you need that damned sword?" he asked, gesturing towards her the metal weapon with his own.

   A knowing look from Emma shut him right up.
   "Ah," he exclaimed bitterly. "All this power, and you don't even have the courage to answer one simple bloody question."
    "Why do you need Excalibur?" Killian demanded when she didn't respond.
    Emma ignored his question, turning to make her leave.

    "I know you're still in there, Emma!" he yelled when she turned her back to him. "And I know that despite everything, you always have your reasons!"
    His speculation caused Emma to stop in her tracks. "You're right! I do!"

    "You want to know why I'm doing all of this?!" She turned around, tears glistening in her cyan eyes. "I'm doing it for you."

   She then disappeared in a cloud of black smoke, leaving Killian to his thoughts.

****

    Meanwhile, back in the snug little apartment of Mary Margaret and David Nolan, lay a young man sleeping soundly in the living room. Ares sat on a flower-patterned loveseat, his legs carelessly thrown over the arm of the seat with an open book resting on his face.
    "Ares?" called a voice from the other side of the room. "Ares, where are you? It's time to go."

    "Ares—" The brunette paused, sighing when she spotted the man she had been looking for. His lanky body was awkwardly thrown over a small armchair and he looked like her was about to fall off. She shifted the heavy books in her arms then pushed the chair with the tip of her shoe, but the man did not stir.
    "Oh for Gods' sake!" she exclaimed, before unceremoniously dumping the stack of books onto the table next to his head.

    The sleeping man woke up with a start, and fell to the carpeted floor with a thud.

   "Ow." he rubbed his head before looking up at the teenager standing over him.

    "What was that for?" he demanded.
   "You wouldn't wake up," she replied plainly.
   Ares grumbled, dusting imaginary dirt off his clothes as he got to his feet.

    Glancing around the room, he noted that a few things had changed since he was last conscious. Firstly, the large pile of books that was stacked neatly near the corner of the room was now strewn all over the room, on tabletops, couch cushions, and even the carpeted floor. Secondly, it was a little after one in the morning, which meant that he had been asleep for two whole hours. And lastly, the once-crowded room was vacant.

    "Where's the others?" he asked, picking up the book he had been reading before he dozed off.
    "They left around the time you passed out. They caught Arthur. Killian and David are integrating him as we speak," she told him nonchalantly, her tone not showing how agitated she was a few hours prior.

    "Why didn't you wake me?" he asked, pushing his hair away from his face.
    "You looked tired," she replied. "Don't think I haven't noticed that you've been having trouble sleeping these past few weeks."
    Ares remained unflinching under his sister's scrutinizing gaze. Actually I thought I've been pretty inconspicuous.

    "Or that you've been sneaking out late at night," she added, looking at him the way a parent would when scolding a rebellious child.

    "I'm twenty-two," he reminded her. "I'm allowed to leave my own house without consulting your permission."
    "Where were you on the night Will went missing?" she asked, catching him off guard.
    "What?"
    "I didn't know you were with him."
 

  "What makes you—"
    "Alice told me about the stranger on the bike," she stated.
    Ares tried to dodge her question with one of his own. "Why are you suddenly so interested in him?"

    "What makes you think I wasn't before? I—" Hestia shook her head, catching on to his plan. "Don't think I don't know what you're doing. Just answer the damn question."
    "What are you asking me Hestia?"
    "He very well didn't do it to himself."
 

  "Are you implying that I attacked him?" Ares scoffed. "What do you take me for? A thug?"
    "No," she replied. "But you're an awful rotten liar, you know that?"
    "You think so?"

    "I know so. I called up the shop last night. Do you know what your manager told me?" she asked.
    Area inwardly groaned, already knowing the answer.
    "He told me that you haven't been in the shop since last week," she said. "Around the time when Will left town."
    "Well, what do you want me to say?" he asked, throwing his hands into the air.

    "Tell me you didn't do it, that you were out on a date—" Ares rolled his eyes at that as the both of them knew that the only reason he had stayed single all this while was because he wasn't over Haziq. "—at least tell me what you were doing with him at three in the morning."
    "I can't."
    "Why in Hades not?" she demanded.
    "For Gods' sake!" he exclaimed, annoyed. "I'm trying to protect you."

    "Don't give me that "I'm doing this for you" crap!" she hissed. "You were like this before, in Phenoix."
    "When have I ever lied to you?" he shot back.
    "I don't know, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm on to you," she warned, narrowing her eyes at him. "And if it's what I think it is then this has something to do with that man that was following me the other day."

    Ares waved his hand dismissively. "It's a small town, he probably thought you were someone else."
    "That's not what you said the other day," Hestia pointed out.
    "Can you just drop it?" Ares pinched the bridge of his nose as he felt the effects of a migraine hit him like a sledgehammer. "It's been a long day. Can we talk about this tomorrow?"
    He turned around to leave the room without waiting for her answer.

    "What happened to us?" she whimpered, her voice was so soft and broken that it felt like a shout to Ares's trained ears.
    "We used to be so close," she continued when she saw that Ares hadn't made a move to leave yet. "But we started drifting apart when Josh started joined The Scorpions and we completely fell apart when our parents died in the crash."

    Hestia took a deep breath but Ares knew his sister well enough to know that she was on the verge of breaking down.
    "Have you ever seen me as a sister?" she asked. "Or am I just your responsibility, someone you've been burdened with cause the rest of our family died in a freak accident?"
    Only then did Ares turn around to face his sister. The shattered look on her face caused his heart to ache and he crossed the length of the room in record time, engulfing her in his arms.

    "I'm sorry," she hiccuped, burying her face into his shoulder. "I just want to know what's going on with you. I couldn't save Josh because I didn't understand what was happening to him. I ruined our family."
    "Shhh..." Ares gently rubbed circles on sister's shoulder. "It's not your fault."
    "But it is," she cried. "I couldn't save you."
    Ares shook his head. "The accident wasn't your fault," he assured her. "And I'm fine. It was just a few fractured bones and a broken wrist."

    "No it's not." Her whole body trembled as she spoke. "You're dead. You died."
    Ares stiffened. "It was just a nightmare, Hestia. I'm still here. I'm real."
    "I'm sorry for yelling," she apologized, sniffing.
    "It's alright, I was the one who got you all riled up," he said as she pulled back.
    "Okay," she replied as he lead the both of them out of the house, back to his apartment.

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I'll admit the title of this chapter is misleading. It's been so long since I last listened to Imagine Dragons and their music makes me feel so nostalgic, which was one of the reasons I choose thing song for this chapter (The other is because I really love this song 😂💖) anyways, how did you find this chapter? I'm really enjoying writing in third person's POV it keeps things more interesting

How are you guys doing? I'm dead inside if anyone's wondering cause' BTS is in my country aND I CAN'T GO FOR THE FRIGGIN CONCERT CAUSE IM BROKE AF 😭😭😭 ugh, it's just like when Dan and Phil came to Singapore and I couldn't go to the airport to see them

Well, that's all for this A/N I'm going to wallow in self-pity by browsing through the internet for BTS fancam vids and imagines until I fall asleep, goodnight guys 👋

~ Alice xx

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What artists/groups are you a fan of? Mine are BTS, Melanie Martinez EXO, Troye Siavn, Gabrielle Aplin, Bea Miller FOB, P!ATD and VIXX

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"We're all kind of weird and twisted and drowning."
~ Ares Harvey Collins

"I have a tendency to keep pressing on my wound and hope that it will stop hurting."
~ Hestia Ava Collins

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You guys have no idea how long I've been waiting for post these edits 😆 I hope you liked them (I didn't come up with Ares's and Tia's quotes, I found them on twitter)

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Vote, comment, rate, do whatever you want <3

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