My Boyfriend is a Dead Roman Hero | Jason Grace

Vitriol and Carrion

Address to Readers: Voice of Juliette Aster, MA

Transcript By Annabeth Jackson-Chase, PhD

JA: Hey, loves.

JA: Sorry to break the fourth wall here, but I felt that I might need to introduce this section myself. Quite a bit of this story has been a fun little galivant through my wonderful, traumatic teenage years-

JA (aside): Percy, shut up. Yours were not worse.

[Muffled voice of Perseus Jackson-Chase]

JA (aside): Yes, I'm aware you've been to Tartarus. Oh my gods, you already had your own books you could talk in. It's my turn.

JA: Sorry about him. He's an attention whore. Anyway, this section isn't fun. Even I couldn't think of a way to make it fun. It's...You're about to read through the worst month of my life. It was a time that...

[Pause]

JA: I didn't...think I was going to make it out of it all. It was...

JA: Okay, did any of you ever learn about the hero's journey in school? I think that was, like, seventh grade English for me. I don't know about y'all. Basically, though, for those of you who aren't familiar, there's a step in the hero's journey called "The Ordeal." In a nutshell, it refers to that pivotal moment in the story when everything goes to shit.

JA: Yeah. This is that. Welcome to mine.

END OF TRANSCRIPT (0:02:03 - 16:48 - 03/31/2021)

--

Good people are weak.

Lit has no idea why he's doing this.

Getting rid of the guards was easy. Violence comes naturally to him. The two blemmyae that were guarding the door are now swimming in the depths of Tartarus, and Lit isn't even winded. But, now, looking down at this stupid fucking chair...

Gods...

What the fuck is he doing?

How did everything change for him so quickly?

Why is he...

It doesn't matter. He's in too deep to turn back now.

Lityerses steps into the storage closet and snatches up the only thing inside it. It's lighter than he expected it to be. It's fucking child sized.

Of course it is.

Something this small - how the fuck could this be so important?

Lit has no idea why he's doing this.

When did she make him so weak?

--

The problem with being really good at compartmentalizing her childhood trauma is that Julie never remembers it's still there until it takes her over completely.

Her screams cut off with a choke when the emperor lowers his hand. Juliette's body stays curled on the ground, forehead pressed to the rough concrete of the throne room floor.

She's shaking. Her lips went numb five minutes ago. After she bit through the bottom one and finally had to let out a sound. A sound to release the agony searing through her left side veins.

Only her left side veins. Julie doesn't know if that's been noticed yet. She figures it's only a matter of time.

Commodus' sandals click against the ground. He's approaching her. Which means it's time to forget that she's in pain.