Icarus - Annabeth Chase

chapter eight

Akira didn't pack much or anything at all for the quest, she just threw on a shirt and some jeans, grabbed her flask and called it a day. People would wonder why but she didn't have the energy to deal with them, she just wanted to go and return Annabeth back safely hopefully without any deaths or inconvenience but she already knew that was to much to ask for.

Akira let out a longing sigh, her mind thinking about how she would've been in New Orleans right now, drinking wine and partying, but no, she had to be going on a dangerous quest to save a goddess and a girl she didn't know. Why did her life have to be so damn complicated?

Oh right, because the gods had "something in store for her". For fucks sake she rather be dead. Oh, wait, she was.

There was a knock on the door, she was alone in the cabin the rest of the Aphrodite kids were out on a walk. Thalia walked in after a few seconds of waiting.

"You need something?" Akira was bored. She really was, all this and for what? Why did the kids have to fight a battle for the gods? It's not like they didn't deserve it because they did. They really fucking did. The kids wanted to ignore it because they wish for parent validation but those gods didn't deserve them, they tried and tried and tried and nothing was ever enough. Akira got bored after years, she was just doing this because of her friend, she didn't care about Artemis, she didn't care if she crumbled at the hands of the titan, she just didn't care.

"I came to see if you were ready. Clearly you're not." Her voice was snarky but Akira really didn't have time for her and she was tired, meaning she was angry.

"Watch it. I can break you in half and not even blink." She said it so nonchalant Thalia couldn't help but believe her. "Look, Thalia. I get it you want daddy's attention but you have to get it into your stubborn brain that he just doesn't give a shit. None of them do."

The Zeus girl glared up at her and all Akira did was stare at her with a blank face.

"You don't want to believe me? That's fine but why do you think we were born huh?" Thalia faltered. Why were they born, were they really that full of themselves that they couldn't keep it in their pants and be loyal to one another? There had to be something else.

"We are born to fight their battles. We are born to do their chores, to pick up after them because the gods need helpers and maids, they don't want kids. They want soldiers. That's all we are, Thalia. We're just pawns for them to use when they feel like it. I'm on this quest for Annabeth and Bianca, not for Artemis. She's just as bad as the rest, I couldn't give a fuck if she dies at the hands of Kronos, I will aid you, yes. But I will not let Percy give up his life for the gods. I will not let Bianca give up her life for the gods. They don't deserve it."

The girl just stared, shell-shocked. She hated to think that Akira was right but she did and she was. The gods were so self-centered that they say dying for them was an honor. Why didn't she see it before?

"Just get ready. We leave in five."

"I am ready. Unlike you I don't need all that." Akira walked out the door and to where they were meeting, it was dark but not to dark, the sun was just setting and this looked like a perfect time for a smoke so she pulled out her cigarettes and lit one, inhaling before blowing out and into the sky. The smell was prominent but frankly, Akira didn't care.

"You're sixteen."

"Your point?"

"Stop smoking." Akira huffed in amusement and after a few seconds laughed lowly.

"What?" Thalia glared at her, she seemed to be doing that a lot.

"You and Percy are a lot alike. It's annoying actually." The girl got even angrier at the comment and scoffed.