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Chapter 1. BFF, best fighter fiends.
First, they heard their name being called;
"Frankie!"
The voice shrieked in horror like it was the only thing it could cling to, Frankie Werner didn't know who it belonged to. The feeling of terror sank into them.
They couldn't breathe, it was futile, the little air that they had left was evaporating by the second; their hands reached for the surface that was far gone hoping to survive the sea current.
Their sight was blurry but they felt hands reach out to them, millions of them trying to catch them, and they let them find their hands.
Then, they were pulled up.
Frankie woke with a loud gasp, their hands were shaking; everything felt like the first time. They tried to get up from their bed but their legs gave up and left them defenseless.
The other recruits didn't bother waking up and helping them. Frankie was breathing heavily; which woke Kronos's protégé; Luke Castellan.
Luke saw them and immediately went beside Frankie and patted their back while repeating the same words:
"Everything's going to be alright."
Eventually, Frankie calmed down and they sat beside Luke in a comfortable silence. They knew who Luke was, but he didn't know Frankie; maybe he'd seen them training among the others, but they were a recruit so Luke would only have recognized them because they'd stayed in the Hermes cabin when Luke was a counselor.
Luke stared at them with worry, as if they were porcelain that would break at any time. "Was it a nightmare?"
Frankie didn't say anything, their silence filling the gaps in Luke's question. They knew he had good intentions, but something about him was dark and sinister; they were here because of how distasteful the gods were to all of them, and maybe that bitterness rubbed off on all of them; Frankie questioned if they were any different from Luke.
"Do you want to share it?" Luke offered them a kind smile. "Or would it be better if we stayed like this?"
Frankie shrugged, trying to contain their helplessness, but their eyes betrayed them, and started to sob quietly; the older hugged them, his hand tracing circles on the other's back.
"It's going to be alright" He assured with a warm tone.
Frankie was too tired to push him back, maybe they should have, but maybe what Frankie needed was a friend, and maybe Luke would be that friend.
"Thanks" Frankie mumbled loud enough for him to hear.
Luke smiled sympathetically. "Don't worry, everyone has their lows" He let go of Frankie. "What's your name, kid?"
"Frankie," They said in a now more calm manner.
He looked at them as if he heard that name before. "Have we met before?"
They remembered the first time they saw Luke Castellan; it was Frankie's first day in Camp Halfblood, they were still in shock over the giant Manticore that had attacked them a day before. They remembered the smile plastered over Hermes's son and the positivity radiating from him.
Frankie looked at Luke again, trying to find traces of his old self that were maybe left untouched.
"Maybe, I don't know." They still thought his smile was the same, but now it held bitterness and the hope for change.
Luke laughed; Frankie thought his laugh was as light as a feather and as sweet as honey. "What do you mean, maybe?"
Frankie was quiet; their hands played with the hem of their shirt. "I suppose that we might've seen each other."
"You suppose?" He was still looking at them with curiosity. "I think you were at the Hermes cabin before I left, yeah?"
"I was," Frankie looked at Luke. "Until Ares claimed me."
Frankie remembered the day of their claiming; it was when Clarrise was tormenting them again for not wanting to act as violently as she did in Capture the Flag. She was as stunned as they were.
"Did you have any trouble in the Ares cabin?"
"A bit, but I would just isolate myself so I wouldn't get bugged by them, I hung around most of the Hephaestus kids" They looked at their bronze bracelets. "That's where I got these."
Frankie made a motion with their hands and instead of their bronze bracelets dyed metal gauntlets were covering their hands and arms like armor.
Luke's eyes went wide. "That's surprising, I haven't seen many demigods that use gauntlets" He smirked. "I see you're more of a fighter."
"I guess," Frankie made the gauntlets shrink into their bracelet form. "I just thought it fitted well with my close-range technique."
"Close-range, huh?" Luke eyed the younger.
They nodded. "My mom was a professional boxer, she taught me how to fight."
Frankie's mom was Elle Werner; an amazing boxer who had won countless matches, and came in second place in the Summer Olympics of 2000 in the women's flyweight category. She was a determined person who loved her kid and her career.
She began teaching Frankie when they were six and they kept on training; she told them that they were a prodigy due to their fast learning pace and skilled ability, Frankie thought it was because of their genes.
They hadn't seen her since they joined Kronos's army.
"She sounds like a tough woman," Luke said.
Frankie looked at him. "She is the strongest person I have ever met." They looked down. "I miss her."
"How about you go see her in your free time tomorrow?"Luke told them.
"I don't know, she lives very far away," Frankie looked down. "And we don't even have free time."
The boy laughed, "Maybe you can talk with her."
Then Frankie was met with Luke handing them a drachma.
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