Together We Stand

sixteen

"Elle! Elle, wake up!" I heard faintly as I was shaken awake.

"C'mon, sunshine, you have to get up," Luka begged and I opened my eyes, looking around to see that no one was on the train. It was just us three.

"What the Hades?"

"No, not Hades," an unfamiliar voice called. I turned to see Luka's face pale as a buff man entered our cart. He had scars all over his face, short-cropped black hair and eyes that were...fire.

"Ares," I whispered, spotting the similarities between him and Luka - black hair, tall, buff, eyes that looked like fire.

"You're learning already," he said, a grin on his face.

"What did you do?!" Luka asked, anger in his voice. His posture was tense, ready to attack within any given moment.

"Well, I had to warn you. Without the presence of mortals," he said smugly, a wicked grin set on his face. "Elidi is going to die," he said casually, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"No," Aidan cut him off, anger in his eyes like I've never seen before. "Elle will not die. We won't let her."

"Aidan, long time no see," Ares grinned and Aidan's mouth twitched, as if he were ready to stab a blade through Ares' eye. "You have it so hard, don't you? Torn between two people."

"Shut up!"

"In the end, who will you choose?"

"I said shut up!" Fire erupted from his hand and caught the seat he was sitting in ablaze. He hurriedly put it out and I was left to watch, wonder struck at his ability.

"Lover or best friend?" Ares mocked and this time, Luka said something.

"Why don't you knock it off? Leave us alone so we can get back to our quest," he said, a hint of fear in his voice. He was scared of Ares.

"Elidi will die before you find the cure. It's somewhere you never knew to look," Ares hinted and Aidan seethed.

"Why don't you go back to Olympus and eat your fucking ambrosia and leave us alone!" he snapped. "We're trying to save a life."

"You have it oh-so hard," Ares muttered, no trace of sympathy in his voice. "Aidan Reiss, ever the hopeful one. Not to mention the sticky situation you're in."

"It's taking me all my might not to stab you in the eyes," Aidan snarled, his grey-brown eyes dark. I had never seen this side of him, and I doubted I ever will again.

"Go ahead and try."

"What's the point of you being here?" I asked, feeling anger poke and prod at my spine, but I wouldn't let it overcome me.

"Just to tell you that you might as well give up, because it's no use," he murmured, pacing back and forth slowly.

"No, you're not Ares," Luka commented. "Ares loves a good fight. He loves to watch people get their hands bloody. He likes to watch people die heroically. You're not him."

"You're Elidi's curser in a clever little mask," Aidan said, his eyes dull and sad.

Ares - or not Ares - my curser, I guess, turned to Aidan with an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry, Aidan."

Then he vanished, and the people on the train showed up again. Aidan turned to look outside the window, his eyes sad and angry.

"Aidan?" I asked and he shook his head, signaling that he just wanted to be alone.

"Ten more minutes until we reach our destination of South Beach," the intercom stated in a robotic voice. I sighed and slung my backpack, quiver and bow over my shoulder. Luka and Aidan did the same, except Luka's sword was sheathed and Aidan's daggers were places strategically where no one could see - even I didn't know.

We waited for what seemed like a long ten minutes, since no one was talking. Aidan seemed pretty upset, and it lead me to wonder what he was upset about.

"Now arriving at South Beach," the intercom stated and the three of us stood up, exiting the train. We wandered along the beach.

"What exactly are we looking for?" I asked, before a boy ran up to us. He had shaggy, raven hair and dark blue eyes.

"Are you guys friends of Layla's?" he asked and we nodded. He grinned. "Awesome. I'm Xander. I'll be helping you get to Glyka Nera."

"How, exactly?" I asked and he grinned, showing us pretty white teeth.

"Well, that's my little secret."

---

While Xander, Aidan and Luka made small talk - actually, just Xander and Luka, Aidan was still pretty shaken up from the visit from my curser - I snuck away and found a small rainbow in the ocean spray, before pulling a golden drachma from my pocket.

"Oh, Iris, goddess of the offering, please accept my rainbow - no, I meant, Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering," I mumbled, flicking the coin into the rainbow. "I'd like to see Layla Lovett." I looked around, making sure no one heard my fumble. Soon, Layla's face was shown in the most. "Hey, Layla." She jumped and looked up, before laughing.

"You scared me. What's up?"

"We're about to head for Glyka Nera. How are you guys?"

"We're fine. I contacted Chiron and asked him for money. He's sending a kid over to give us some."

"That's good," I said and she nodded.

"Hey, are you okay? You're looking a bit pale."

"I," I stopped for a moment, debating on what to say. "While we were on the train, someone visited us. We thought it was Ares, but it was actually my curser disguising himself as Ares."

"Are you serious?" she asked. Jase soon walked into the frame, waving at me.

"Hey, Elle. How are you guys?" he asked, blue eyes shining.

"We're holding up."

"How's Aidan?" he asked, before blushing as Layla rolled her eyes and whispered, "Lovebirds."

"He's..." I turned to look at Aidan, who was staring down at the sand, his jaw clenched tightly. "Something happened on the train, so he's a little shaken up."

"What happened?"

"My curser visited us, but disguised as Ares. He said some pretty nasty things to Aidan, so that's probably why he's so shaken up," I explained and he nodded.

"What did your curser say to Aidan?"

"Something about being stuck between a lover and a best friend, and in the end, who he will choose. It was really confusing."

"Well, I'd say," Jase replied.

"Hey, sunshine, it's time to go!" Luka called and I turned to Layla and Jase.

"I have to go. Iris message me when you get the money and then head to Glyka Nera. We'll wait for you there."

"Alright," Layla nodded and I smiled.

"Tell Levi I said hi."

"I will. Bye, Elle."

"Bye."

I sliced through the mist, cutting off the connection, and walked to where the three boys were standing.

"Who were you talking to?" Luka asked.

"Layla and Jase."

"Alright. Well, we better get going soon, before a storm picks up," Xander said, looking up at the sky, which seemed perfect and without a cloud.

"There's a storm coming?" I asked and Xander nodded.

"Oh yeah. A big one."

(A/N: metaphorical, of course ;) whoopsie spoilers anyway I might not update for a while bc I wrote down the plot line for this story in a journal and it's at my dads house and I'm currently at my moms house this week so...yeah, it might be a bit before I update again. But don't forget to comment and vote bc I love feedback so thanks ( ˘ ³˘)❤︎