Alas, Alas

Echo sits in her old booth, working on a drawing. At the sound of giggling, she looks up, and smiles at the little girl who is sitting at the Bar, petting the white cat with green eyes that sigs upon it.
The door opens, and someone steps into the bar, heels clicking on the floor.
She then watches as the child spots someone come down the stairs and launches herself into the legs of the explorer, who laughs and reaches down and ruffles her hair.
The person makes their way slowly across the room, the clicking of the shoes being the noise as they approach the Bar.
When the girl runs to the piano, where a young castaway sits playing, Echo turns back to her drawing of her friends and family.
The heels stop at the bar and scrap a little as the person turns back toward the room.
High pitched laughter causes her to look up again, but the child is only dancing around and asking the short ballerina to watch her "pirate", which leads to more laughter.
There is a pause, then the shoes slowly make their way in the direction of the laughter.
As the little girl finally settles down and starts coloring with the crayons given to her by the rainbow goddess, Echo finishes with the blue pencil and picks up the purple one.
The clicking of heels against hard floor stop near the place where the laughter was, and a swoosh of material indicates someone knealing.
"Well. What do we have here."

Snap! Echo doesn't notice the tip of the pencil break off. All she notices is the voice. The voice she hadn't heard in a long time. The voice she hoped never to hear again. Her head slowly raises as her child brightly greets the lady.

"Such facinating hair..." A well manicured hand reaches out, tucking a stray lock of blue hair behind the ear of the child.

Something curls up within Echo as her daughter speaks. "I got it from Mommy!" The girl looks in her mother's direction and waves. "Hi, Mommy!"

Echo wants to hide, wants to run away. But she can't, not while her child is here. So she doesn't move at all when the woman turns and looks at her.

"Well."

She wants to get up and pick up her daughter and leave. But she can't. That one word, and the gaze that is now on her freezes her in her spot.

A smirk slowly forms on the dark red lips, and the woman turns back to the child. "I don't think your mommy is feeling well. Why don't you come with me, and we'll get you something good to eat."

A small voice within the frozen nymph cheers as the little girl looks hesitant and replies, "I'm not suppose to go with strangers."

"But I'm not a stranger. I'm a very old friend of your mommy's. And I know she wouldn't mind one single bit." The well manicured hand is held out. "Well?"

Nononononono... "Well... okay!" Nooooooooooooo!!!! Echo can only watch as her daughter takes the woman's hand and the woman stands up and leads her to the door.

At the door, the woman pauses, then looks back at the still frozen nymph, a triumpant smirk on her face.

You can never escape me, Echo.

Then Hera leads Echo's daughter out the door.

Nooooooo... "...ooooo!!!"

Echo sits up in bed, tears running down her face. Looking over at the other side of the bed, she sees that Yamino is already up. Choking back a sob, she wraps her arms around her stomach and rocks in place.

It can't be true. It just can't be. It can't...

She spends the rest of the morning sobbing.

Echo sits curled up in a chair in the library, working her way slowly through a book. In another chair, a little elf girl and a platypus are curled up, asleep.

Echo looks up and smiles at the two of them, then goes back to her book.

*look in memories*