The Ascendance of Darkness (Percy Jackson Twin fanfic)

Too Soon To Let Go

Ryker was very nearly destroyed on the day his mom died.

That day in the rain must have been the most terrible day of his life.

He'd lost his mother.

He'd basically lost his father, too.

He'd punched his best friend.

He thought that was the lowest it'd ever be for him.

How small and innocent he had been.

On the day his father died he had gone crazy in grief stricken rage.

That was the day he had agreed to a destiny that he knew nothing about.

That was the day he'd become an orphan, no parents but the mystery woman in New York City and the god who was never there.

That was the day he chose his adopted sister over his best friend and his life changed forever.

He didn't have a word for Zoë.

She was more than a friend. After he'd gotten her to stop hating him she'd become far, far more than a friend.

Not romantically involved, of course, but you know what he means.

And so he decided she deserved more than a label.

When Ryker lost his... Zoë... he was numb.

She kept him together when he'd lost his family.

She kept him alive, if only to be able to kill him herself later.

She kept him sane. He was just a boy going through grief. He was just a boy, trying to get by in wake of the destruction life had left on everything he loved.

So he left his home.

Again.

He didn't even stay long enough to meet Artemis's new lieutenant, knowing that whoever she was, she was replacing Zoë. And he couldn't handle that.

He'd promised Artemis that Ally would get the choice to join the Hunt when she was fourteen. She was ten now, but he was leaving, and she would much sooner let some traitorous jerk of a demigod boy drag her off through the woods then leave him alone like this.

Milli was worrying. She knew this side of Ryker well. Too well, especially at only fourteen, when the closest a normal kid would get to this state was the furious indignation of a broken friendship or the striking pain of a failed grade.

This death he hadn't even been present to see. He didn't know how she died. He didn't know who she was fighting or who had been there when she'd passed into the stars. What he did know, though, was that he wasn't there for her when she needed him the most.

Another death would break him in the state he was in now.

With the way they lived, she honestly wouldn't be surprised.

And that's why it was her job as his best friend to fix him.

No matter what the Huntresses thought.

{Five Minutes Before Leaving}

Phoebe caught her in her tent packing.

"So you're heading out with the boy, huh?"

Milli smiled as she stuck her sword in her sheath and attached it to her belt, ignoring the bite in the other girl's voice.

"Yeah. Sorry we couldn't stay longer, but... oh, who am I kidding? You know how Ryker is, you've known him for two years. He just needs to get away. Zoë was like his best friend."