Is this hell? (Open/Danielle)

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It was warm. Way too warm.

Cass opened her eyes, staring at the padded walls around her. Not just walls, coffin walls. She was in a coffin. She let in a deep, sharp breath and began to scream.

Eventually, she managed to claw her way out. With the help of whatever God she didn't know, but she was coming out of the ground covered in dirt and scars.

She was dead. She remembered dying. She remembered jumping in to save the young hunter and feeling herself die, the creatures claws going through her heart.

Why didn't they burn her? Scatter her ashes?

They had decided to bury her instead. Many hunters were buried instead of burned, if they came from completely mortal families. Burning was a Greek tradition, but no part of her was Greek except for the hunter part.

Wait, was she even a hunter anymore? She had died, hadn't she?

She new she was starting to hyperventilate, she could feel her throat closing in around her.

What time was it? The sun was either barely rising or barely setting. She couldn't tell.

She stepped out of the trees, standing at the edge of the forest and facing Camp Half-Blood.

Someone had brought her back from the dead.

Someone had brought her back from Elysium.

Back to this hell.

@danielle

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Camp Half-Blood had been a lot to take in for Everett. He was only adjusting to being alive again, none the less being a demigod and suddenly there was this whole other camp full of Greek demigods. It was a nice place, he had to admit, but at least for now he was keeping to the sidelines. Not that he had anything against the Greeks, but it was too much to take in.

He was walking along the edge of the forest, debating if he should enter it or not. He would be better off finding some backup if he did of course, so perhaps this wasn’t the time. Suddenly he caught a glimpse of something white out of the corner of his eye. As he spun around to have a look he realized it was a woman. A dirty, somewhat looking like she belonged in a horror film woman, but still a woman. Or perhaps it was some sort of trick? But he didn’t think the monsters in the forest would come this close to open ground. Surely they wouldn’t? Everett took a few tentative steps towards her, asking: “Are you alright?”

@cass

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Cass froze as she saw someone not too far off. She waited with wide eyes as he approached her, asking if she was all right. She shook her head slowly, her hands shaking. She bit her lip and the rest of her body started to shake as well. The hyperventilating picked up and suddenly she was on her knees, looking down at her hands. They were shaking violently and that's when she noticed the splinters. She started to whimper as she looked up at the man once more.

"Help," she said. It was almost as if she had forgotten all words. Had they spoken English in Elysium? Yes, but it was different. Voices were gently, more joyful, kind. Her voice came out harsh, brash and loud. At least to her ears. This world was dark, too. She felt like she couldn't see.

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When the woman fell to her knees and gave a plea for help Everett threw all caution aside, hurrying to her side. The way she was shaking reminded him of how some men had reacted after a shelling. He remembered that he had encountered something similar in modern day as well, he wasn’t certain but he thought they called it a panic attack.

Everett squatted next to her and looked her over, noticing the splinters in her hands. He smiled at the woman, doing his best to sound calm and collected when he spoke.
“Hi, I’m Everett. I think you might be having a panic attack. It’s not dangerous, and it should go away on its own with some time.” He hoped he was telling the truth, he thought that was what he’d heard but he wasn’t entirely sure.
“In the mean time, why don't you tell me your name? And you have some splinters that I would like to remove, if I may?” he continued, gesturing towards her hands when he mentioned the splinters.

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Cass had asked for his help, but she still flinched when he moved swiftly toward her. Still, she looked over at him as he bent down beside her, her eyes wide and primal. Panic Attack? It was familiar... yes, she remembered those. She may also have been going into shock. His voice was calm, gentle, unexpected. As he asked her name and gestured to help with her hands, she held them out slowly giving him a nod.

It took her a moment to get the words out, because it took her a moment to remember the name. She knew it, of course, but it was lost somewhere in her mind. Once she found it, she swallowed and licked her lips before speaking, "Cass. Cassandra," she said. His name was Everett. An old fashioned name, which was comforting. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry to bother you," she said, her voice shrinking in volume as she spoke.

@everettcrowe

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When she gave him a nod he carefully started to remove the splinters from her hands. He tried to keep his movements and voice as soft as possible, not wanting to startle her further. He didn’t know what had happened to her, but she seemed scared and a bit out of it.

He paused his work for a moment to look her in the eyes when she told him her name and started apologizing.
“Cassandra, I can assure you it’s no trouble. I’m happy to help.” His statement was followed by a smile before he looked back down at her hands and continued with removing the splinters.
“I wish I had something to eat or drink to give you, but I don’t.” he said in an apologetic tone. “We should probably get you down to camp as soon as possible.”

He wanted to ask her what had happened to her, but he though this wasn’t a good time. He’d have to wait until she brought it up, or at least until she’d had something to eat and was in a better state of mind.

@cass

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She didn't look down as he removed the splinters from her hands. She didn't want to look. She kept her eyes on him, trying to ignore the tugging as the wood was removed from her hands. When he looked down again she glanced to upward, toward the sky. It was unfamiliar, distant, dark. Sky was different... where she was.

Camp. That word ripped her back into the present. She looked over at him again. "Camp? Half-Blood?" there was a sight pulse of hope in her voice, a slight understanding of what he was talking about. She bit her lip as she felt tears prick her eyes. For a moment, she forgot that she was talking to someone.

"Camp Half-Blood. They buried me. Out of respect... or something..." she was spacing out a little now before she realized what she had said, she snapped back to looking at Everett.

@everettcrowe

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Everett simply nodded as answer when she asked if it was Camp Half-Blood he meant. He looked her hands over one last time, to make sure he wasn’t missing any pieces of wood. It seemed as if he’d got them all.
“There, all done.” he said, letting go of her hands.

He tuned back in to what she was saying when he heard the word “buried”. Surely she couldn’t mean… But the signs were there, the splinters in her hands, the dirt under her fingernails, in her hair, on her clothing.
“Buried you?” The question was barely more than a whisper, his mind reeling with images of darkness and a then a city which was too loud, too light and didn’t look much like he remembered it at all.

@cass

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Her eyes widened as he called her out on her outburst. She should have just kept her mouth shut. Well, now there really was no reason in lying to him. It's not like she had anything to lose... she had already lost it all, after all. "I... um... I died," she said, biting her lip and swallowing hard. She felt her eyes started to tremble and water. "It was going to kill her and I stopped it. I died and instead of burning me, like Greeks do, they buried me in respect for my mortal roots. Not even a demi-god," her sentences were broken, strange. It was almost as if she couldn't figure out how to talk in this world.

"I just woke up and... coffin..." she shook her head, not ready to continue.

@everettcrowe

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The sound of her voice brought him back to the present, and he clung to it, concentrating on her words. The thought of waking up in the ground took him awfully close to memories he didn’t want to think about, he had to stick to the now. Not think about the pain, or the blood, or…

No, he had to focus. He had to be there for her. He tried to piece together what she’d said, though he’d missed some of it. She had died, just like him. Did she say something about burning? No, she said she woke up in a coffin. Everett was sure of that part. He reached and put a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her. Perhaps himself as well. He would’ve hugged her but he wasn’t sure it would be welcome.

“It’s not…” he started, not sure how to talk about this. “Uh, not a good way to come back. Digging yourself out. Everything being different. No one you know around.” His eyes had become almost blank as he spoke, and he had to shake his head a bit to regain focus.
“It’s terrifying. I’m sorry you had to go through it.”

@cass

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The children of Hecate had run to Dani first thing that morning to tell her about their failed ritual. Of course she shouldn't have gotten her hopes up, but they had been so confident about trying that it hadn't taken even a half hearted suggestion for them to agree to try brining back Cass specifically instead of just some random person buried in the cemetery. She hadn't even been gone for that long, if you asked Dani.

It was like losing her best friend all over again as she slowly dressed for the day to go visit the grave. She even took the time to find a shirt other than the bright orange she normally wore, a nice black one more befitting her mourning. Flowers were next on her checklist, as cheesy as it was. Cass was basically her sister, and when you had as little family as Dani did everything felt worse. Wild flowers she couldn't name found their way in to a small bouque, bunched, crumpled...maybe even pitiful. Oh well, it was the thought that counted.

Before she got close to the graveyard, Dani noticed two people off in the distance. One she didn't recognize at all, a guy from the looks of it. His companion though, that was a different story. The flowers fell from her hand as Dani stared slack jawed at the blonde mess a few dozen yards away from her. cass. she whispered to herself, not quite believing that the Hecate twerps had actually done it. She watched from a distance as the stranger tended to Cass' hands. Eventually though, Dani snapped out of it and before she could consciously stop herself, she was running over, screaming Cass' name repeatedly until she came to a halt barely two feet away from the formerly deceased Hunter.

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Cass was astounded at the way he responded. He talked as if he had gone through the same thing she had... but that was crazy. What this a common occurrence? "You.. are you okay?" seeing the blank look on his face, the obvious discomfort.. it was waking her up somehow. Saving people in trouble, that's what she did, and now he was showing the signs. She blinked and things were becoming more clear.

That was until she heard a voice screaming her name.

Panic settled back in as she retreated into herself, wincing as she turned to find the noise. It was Dani running toward her. She was frozen on the spot, and even took one step closer to her knew friend Everett as Dani came to a halt in front of her. Cass looked her up and down, blinking several times before finally finding the courage to speak. "Danielle," she said, her voice was hoarse and scared again.

But no, no this was her best friend, right? Why was it freaking her out so much to see her? Oh yeah, because she had let that part of her life go. Seeing someone from... before was almost too much to handle. Still, Cass tried to form a smile, "Surprise?"

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It was no secret that Everett had died and come back to life, he just didn’t much like to talk about it. But even among demigods digging your way out of your own grave wasn’t that common, and yet here he was talking to someone who had just been through it. If anyone would understand, surely it would be Cassandra.
“I’m-” he started, intent on telling her that he was fine, that thinking about the night he came back to life just brought back some bad memories he didn’t want to think about.

So maybe “fine” wasn’t exactly what he was, but he would be, and he had other things to think about so there wasn’t any point in saying he wasn’t. He never got around to telling her anything though, because as he started talking he was cut off by someone yelling Cass’ name. He quickly turned his head towards the sound, spotting someone running towards them, all thoughts about his past gone for now.

The approaching girl obviously knew Cassandra, but Cass herself seemingly either didn’t recognize her or was startled by the sudden sound and movement. Or perhaps there was something more to it. Everett was a bit surprised when Cassandra took a step closer to him and away from the other girl, but he stayed quiet, trying to assess the situation to see if he needed to step in. Cass did seem to recognize the girl, Danielle, in the end, but he thought she still didn’t seem fully at ease. None the less it might be good to let them exchange a few words before doing anything to make the situation worse for any of them.

@danielle

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Cass' movements towards the stranger made Dani frown, stepping back herself. There was no way she'd let it show outwardly that she was a little hurt by how things were going down, but she really was. It had been so long that she had just assumed Cass would be happy to be back. Yea, I guess it is. I didn't think they'd actually make it work. Dani stated with a small shrug. Surely they had just went back and finished the ceremony after they visited her that morning. Once a demi-god got something in their heads it was hard to get them to stop trying.

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Cass's eyes widened as Dani seemed unsurprised, as if she knew this was going to happen. Cass's attempt at a smile disappeared, "Wait... how made what work? You know who did this?" her voice was soft, but stern now. She didn't move closer to Dani, but stayed by Everetts side. She glanced over at him. "Everett, if you haven't met yet, this is Dani my... a dear friend of mine back before," she wasn't sure exactly how to articulate this, especially with the implications going around that Dani had taken part in bringing her back to this hellhole.

She turned back to Dani, "Everett saved me. Well, he's been helping me out since... since I arrived," she didn't want to say 'came back', even though that was entirely true. She didn't want to admit to the idea yet. She was still concerned by Everetts sudden change in mood a moment ago before Dani showed up, but she planned to ask him about that later.