"As the smoke clears, I awaken

And untangle you from me

Would it make you, feel better

To watch me while I bleed?"

-Demi Lovato

"I win!" TJ exclaimed with her sword at Athena's neck.

"It only took you a whole year." Athena jokingly mocked.

"Shut up."

She couldn't believe that it had been a year since she's been here and two months since she left home. Her parents, Veronica and Thomas, would be so proud of her, of the woman that she's become. They told her every day of her life that she was special and she was. As for her biological parents, she didn't talk to them that much, she didn't want to be around them. She almost killed Aphrodite a couple months ago, that woman hated TJ to her core and the feeling was completely mutual. She had heard from the handmaids that Aphrodite was jealous of TJ's looks. To her, she was average but to Aphrodite, she rivaled Helen of Troy.

"Soon you'll be able to claim your throne."

TJ stopped in her tracks, "What are you talking about?"

"You don't know?" TJ shook her head. "You're next in line to be Queen of the Amazons. Why do you think we've been training you?"

"I don't know... to be strong?"

Queen of the Amazons, are they insane? There's no way that she's fit to rule people, she couldn't even decide what she wanted to eat for breakfast sometimes.

"The Amazons need a leader by the next Full Moon."

A month!

"But I don't want to be a leader!"

"You don't have a choice Trinity, it is your birth right."

"Is there any way around it?"

"In our culture, you'd be defending your title by dueling with others who want it."

"So if I lose, I don't have to rule?"

Athena looked at her sadly, "If you lose... you die Trinity."

She didn't have a choice, her life was on the line. TJ gave her one more look before she went to her room.

It wasn't fair that she had no say in the matter, that she had to fight to defend a title that she didn't even want. All she wanted was Paul.

"Trinity?" She quickly wiped her eyes to see Apollo looking at her in concern."Are you okay?"

She could lie and say that she was, but what would that get her?

"No! They're making me Queen when all I want to do is go home."

His heart went out to the young Amazon, even all the time that she had spent here with him and his family, she still didn't want to be here.

"Come." He took her hand and lead her through the palace until they reached a white door that had a bow and arrow crest on it.

"What are we doing?"

He said nothing and led her into his room. He went to the closet and handed her a transparent ball.

"What is this?"

"Just look, and you'll find your answers."

*

Loving her was as easy as breathing. Everything that she did, enamored him,

The way she never let the volume of anything end in an odd number

The way she snorted like a pig when she laughed

The way she cared for everyone and didn't expect anything back

The way she was made just for him.

"So we have to sit around and let a bunch of bloodsuckers show us how to fight?" Jared murmured, breaking Paul out of his thoughts and Embry hit his shoulder.

"They know what to do, it's better to have the advantage than to go in blind." Sam explained.

They knew that their Alpha was right, they just didn't want to be around them all day, smelling their rancid scents.

The front door opened and a teary eyed Emily walked through the door carrying dead Bluebells. The air became somber, TJ's favorite flower were Bluebells. Emily kissed Sam and retreated to her room, something she often did when she visited TJ's grave. Sam wanted to follow her, but he knew she needed time to herself. She thought of TJ like a mother would a daughter. They were taking it day by day, even though it proved rather difficult. After all, they're the reason why she even left in the first place.

*

Today was the day of the training session and Paul couldn't wait to get this over with. He gazed at the Cullens as he and the pack came out of the foliage of the clearing.

Bella couldn't help but be nervous, as she was sure lives would be lost on both sides at the expense of hers and she didn't want that.

"They don't trust us enough to be in their human form." Edward said, reading Sam's mind.

"They came, that's what matters." Carlisle said.

"We've got one more person to come help." Alice said with a smile, looking at the wolves. "It's so great to see you, you look great." She turned to look in Emmetts direction.

The wolves looked at her in question and the next thing they knew Emmett fell to his stomach.

"And she sticks the landing!"

With the exception of Alice and Edward, everyone else couldn't believe who was sitting on top of Emmett. Rosalie helped her up with a laugh at her husbands expense and when she locked eyes with Paul's wolf, he knew.

Trinity

Except she looked different, her skin had much more of a tan to it, her hair was pin straight and in waves flowing down her back. On her head was a gold metal band that wrapped around her head and came to a point in between her eyebrows. She wore armor on her chest and wrists, a gold belt around her waist, a brown skirt and knee high gold armor that left her feet bare. On her back was her bow and arrow and strapped to her thigh was a sword.

"TJ?" Bella asked, voicing everyone's thoughts.