“I don’t have the luxury of breaking, but I’ll do what needs to be done. I always do. I need to go. I know you guys don’t mean to, but your expectations are weighing me down.” I yank the door open and run down the hall.
Why do I have to constantly make these choices? Why is everything in my path meant to destroy me?
4
“Friend?” Claud calls as I wander with no real path in mind.
“Hey, Claud.” I try to smile but it’s fake.
“Why friend cry?” Claud wraps a huge hand around me and picks me up, one huge eye trained on my face.
“I’m fine, buddy, really.” I pat his hand. “How are you? Have you built anything interesting lately?”
Maybe my subconscious brought me to Claud on purpose. The cyclops is so childlike and filled with wonder no one can stay sad around him.
“What wrong?” he asks again, ignoring my question.
“Nothing you need to worry about. Just the stuff with the war coming.” I sniffle.
“Claud help.”
“Yeah, buddy, you’ve helped a lot. You made so many amazing weapons for us. It’s a huge help.” My shoulders slump.
“No, help Beth.” One big finger jabs me in the shoulder.
“I don’t think anyone can help me, friend.” I sigh. “I’ll be fine. I just need to stop being selfish.”
“You? Selfish?” Artemis pops in next to me. “Those two things don’t belong in the same sentence.”
“You have no idea, Artemis. What the fates and your brother are asking of me… it’s too much.”
“Then say fuck it and fuck you to all of us if that’s what you want. I wouldn’t blame you one bit, little sister. You’ve saved us all and we just keep asking more of you. I think the gods forget that you still have a mortal heart, even if you’re mostly a goddess now.”
“You really wouldn’t blame me, would you?” I ask.
The open expression on her face tells me everything.
“I’ll even take you and Jayden somewhere no one can find you and the two of you can ride out the end of days together in peace. You didn’t just save me, Beth, you gave something back to me I lost millennia ago. I will be forever grateful to you for that.” Artemis smiles down at me.
“I believe you, but we both know that’s not an option for me. The queen will never stop searching for me to punish me for existing. I didn’t ask for any of this, Artemis. That’s the worst part. I didn’t ask for any of it, but I stepped up when I was needed over and over again. When is it going to end?”
“Do you want the truth, or do you want me to lie to you?” she asks and I laugh.
“Lie to me. I need someone to just be on my side without expectations.” I pat Claud’s hand, and he sets me down on the soft moss of the forest.
“I know you said to lie but I’m going to give you some truth with it. This is the last hurdle in the war against the queen and either way, whether you choose to fight and win or if you run away, it’s almost over and no one will ever ask anything of you again.”
“I was wondering when you were going to get to the actual lie part.” I pick at the grass.
“I can’t promise you that no one will ever ask anything of you again because you will be the damn savior of the world, but you will be able to tell them to fuck off if you want to.” Artemis shrugs.
She sits in the grass next to me and crosses her legs as we stare out at the view of the academy below.
“I know how badly it sucks, Beth, but those kids down there? They are counting on you, and you can decide to say fuck you to the expectations, but I don’t think you will because that’s not the type of person you are.” Artemis squeezes my shoulder.
“It wouldn’t be so bad if Nereus hadn’t performed that stupid test,” I grumble.
“This isn’t the choice you think it is,” Artemis says. “Did you ask Adrian if Jayden dies in the battle?”
