𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐗𝐈𝐑, 𝐏𝐉

𝟎𝟏𝟑.𝟒

I've always been unwanted spare.

"Ethan, Luke isn't your friend, I know Camp was difficult but-" Juliet tried to convince him but Ethan sharply turned towards her and the next words he said smacked her right in the face.

"And you are, my friend that is?"

She took a step back, seeing Juliet weak was not an often sight, but Ethan had quickly achieved it by his words, "What kind of question is that? We've always been friends."

Ethan got up to his feet, smacking his sword on the floor, "Really? There is no friendship without trust Juliet, You should've trusted me!"

"And then what? What? Trust you and run away with you to our death!" Juliet screams out, her eyes getting misty as she faced the accusations Ethan was laying on her. As soon as Percy heard about the running away part his gaze snapped to Ethan as he questioned,"What?"

Ethan ignored him, getting in Juliet's personal space and yelling, "I told you to come with me!"

"He wants to kill me!"

"And you think they don't?! Patroclus was always the unwanted spare too!" Juliet gasped at his words, tears streaming down her eyes, Percy growled from behind them, snapping out, "Stop it!"

"No!" Ethan yelled, flailing his arms around and yelling furiously, "Rejected by all, He was just as unwanted as we are in this life, and we'll always be because we can never compare to heroes like them." He pointed at Annabeth and Percy, "We can never be the kids of the big quests and prophecies! You think Apollo cares about you? He led you to your slaughter, and he'll do it again! Wake up to reality Juliet! They are not the same as us! We'll never be heroes like them! Never-"

The rest of his rant was cut off by Percy rushing in and punching him right in the face, making the son of nemesis reel back because of the impact, Rachel and Annabeth gasped from the sidelines, Augustus was unusually silent while tears were streaming down Juliet's eyes, she somehow rushed forward and grabbed Percy's arm pulling him back, "Go fuck yourself, Nakamura."

Ethan gave a mocking laugh wiping the blood of his busted lips, "Punching me will not sort-"

Percy hastily pulled himself away from a protesting Juliet and punched Ethan again, his words extremely deadly, "I said go fuck yourself."

"Percy," Augustus pulled him back, taking him to Juliet's side as the son of Poseidon seethed in anger. Ethan looked at Juliet as if waiting for her to say something, but after all he'd said, what was left for her to reply with? Juliet merely turned her gaze away and focused on Percy.

Ethan scoffed, "You shouldn't have spared me, Jackson. Mercy has no place in this war."

Then he ran off into the darkness, back the way they'd come.

***

They were so exhausted they made camp right there in the huge room. Percy and Augustus found some scrap wood and Juliet started a fire. Shadows danced off the columns rising around them like trees.

"Something was wrong with Luke," Annabeth muttered, poking at the fire with her knife. "Did you notice the way he was acting?"

"He looked pretty pleased to me," Augustus said. "Like he'd spent a nice day torturing heroes."

"That's not true! There was something wrong with him. He looked...nervous. He told his monsters to spare us. He wanted to tell me something."

"Probably, 'Hi, Annabeth! Sit here with me and watch while I tear your friends apart. It'll be fun!'"

"You're impossible," Annabeth grumbled. 

"No you are." Percy snapped in finally, glaring at Annabeth, "Augustus is right, Stop justifying a genocidal predator."