Pertemis: A Wolf’s Tale
Chapter 43 Alternative Ending

So here's for those that cried and still not satisfied; and probably still cursing me at the moment. ??? ?

This takes event at the cliff.

"Wait!" She called for him and he turned back with hope. As if he was expecting something.

And she ran up to him, her mind was swirling of what she could do to stay with him longer.

She shortened their distance, and looked up into his eyes. There she slowly took of her jacket, the silver with thick fur wrapping at the neck as the winter was coming close.

She gently cloaked her jacket around him and it expanded magically to fit his size. She fixed the collar, her eyes never left his. But her soft finger set a tingling sensation in his chest, and it touched at his soul.

"It'll be cold up North" her voice was soft, so much care was in it and he heart cracked at that moment. "Stay warm all the time okay?"

She told him, yet unable to express how she felt. For the tumult still in her heart, and she was still confused of her feelings. But now perhaps forever she wouldn't know what it is.

Percy unable to stop himself. And he stepped forward and brought her to his arms and he held her tightly like a precious gem. He loved her, yet he could not stay. They enjoyed each other warmth. Until the sky had turned black, and the starlight shined upon them. He kissed her forehead, pressing his lips stronger with passion and love, and at the same time trying to contain his tears.

I love you

Artemis eyes were blurred and she couldn't comprehend them completely. She thought those words he said between that kiss, yet she was not sure and know how to respond. "Goodbye Arty"

No, no, she wasn't ready to say goodbye. Not after these months, not after every moments they shared, not after every pain they endured. But she just nodded and he turned and he walked away without looking back.

She stood there, her feet glued to the ground and just stared at his back. The flashbacks came like a swirlpool in her mind. Then suddenly as a wind, the last line of the prophecy rang in her head.

There times leave and three times return.

The concealed heart shall burn.

It was not directing to any, but it was to her. Her heart had burnt, that fire consumed her and it swallowed her whole. That fire of love, the love she had for him. Now she understood all her confused feelings, which she did not know the answer. It was love. The first moment their eyes laid, her fate had changed indeed forever; and he had set a fire inside her. Three times he left the camp, that fires and love was magnified. Now her heart for long cold and embedded inside the ice she created was melted by him, and her love for him sounded through her.

She supposed to say it...she should've said the words out loud. Yet it came like a clump at her throat...because of what they had to face, because of the dooms followed them...because she was feared her doom would bring him deaths. She was afraid of what could bring them after she said those word. And the courage lost within her, even still the fire in her heart still burning.

The fragment of the sad air filled her heart, yet in those, it contained something similar.

So she turned toward the cliff, and there, even though miles and miles away. There was still another old Daisy clinging at the rocky barren cliff. It's flower swayed in the wind, the white mantles sang in her mind the lyrics of its soul. It looked strange and yet somehow connected to her. The pistils stared coldly at her and its leaves waved for her realisation. And her determination came back, like a sudden wind floated from the ocean. For once she had pointed to the sky, and yelled to the world that she would do anything just to stay with Percy.

So she turned. But the moment she looked at his back, all her courage fell. Yet, a word came between her gasping.

"Percy...."

The word was small, like a dust on the ground and it was dispersed by the wind around. But to Percy, whom

heart was deep in sorrow and pain; and the small whisper travelled into his ears. It came and rang like a bell in his heart, yet so gently and it dispersed like fairy dusts in him. Then all the molecules in his body stopped.

Even when he said his goodbye, his heart still leaned back to her. He was hoping she could stay him, if she truly loved him, so would not let him go. Yet he walked and waited hopelessly. Until this single word came. And the realisation hit him, for she never called him this name but always Perseus and it came as such that love travelled at its tail.

There Artemis waited hopelessly behind and the courage inside her was shut. Yet the fire suddenly churned when he turned back.

He walked with his mind was racing with his legs which to reach her first. And his steps made the rock on the ground stormed with hasty sound. Her eyes were bright, and they came with hope.

He come close, so close that she could feel the very breathe of him and she enjoyed so much the salty scene of the sea. He clapped his hands and the side of her cheeks, but it was gentle and delicate. Her mouth slight opened in shock by the look he gave her, as if he was angry yet was happy and it confused her.

There he leaned closer and brought her tender lips to him.

He kissed her with all the passion and the fire, the excitement and the hunger for her love. Now he poured even more between the kiss and Artemis eyes were wide in shock For never once she kissed someone this openly. Even though in their lips

e accidet

past

connected, and none ended up pleasant. Yet this time he made it intentionally, and somehow, it stirred something in her.

For his kissed were like water for a dying fish, like nectar pouring upon her lips, the the medicine for her aching heart. Slowly, the heart overcome her brain, the very nerves that still kept her in shock. Her arms slowly wrapped around his neck, and she pulled him closer, closing the distance around. Percy muscles suddenly tensed when she kissed him back, but he didn't break the kiss and continued in sync with her.

For the connection, of tongues and and lips drew a bridge between their hearts, and glued them together even more. For the kiss, the knew how the other think, how each felt for one another and the pain each was carrying. Their eyes closed yet tears escaped upon their lashes and streamed down their cheeks. Yet never once their kiss was broken.

The cloud drew together with applause, and they spray their spring droplets around them, draining away their concerns and pain in the past and set in each of their heart the image of the others. He pulled her closer and she kissed him with more intensity.

Then he parted the kiss, and his hands still at the side of her cheeks. Their foreheads touched and their breathing was becoming like panting and yet danced in sync.

"I love you Artemis" he whispered at her trembling lips, which were cold and yearning for his touch. "My Artemis"

Her sobbing came even harder, and the rain drained her tears. There cared his strong jaw lines, and pulled herself closer to his torso.

"Don't leave me Percy" she cried at his lips, and no matter how much she tried, her voice came unevenly. "I-I love you. Don't leave me"

His eyes bright by her love and it

shined in her silver globes that were blurred by tears. Those words he took, and his heart was set beyond the land of Adar, then land which his people called peace. For living with her, to swim in her love no place in the universe or any that Chaos created could compare. And he shook his head, and he brought her to his lips again.

"I won't" he whispered between the kiss. "Nothing can separate us"

They kissed for a long time under the rain. And the old Daisy seemed to smile at Artemis as finally it let go off the cliff. There in her heart and the feelings she poured into that kiss between them as it rang. I once were a droplet in the ocean. But with you I am the sea.

?The End?