A Friendship as Strong as Steel

I'll need time to recover

POV Lucia:

"I'm fine!" I said to practically no one. Vasilia was busy trying to get Olivia to wake up. She must have hit her head during the fall, unlike me.

"Luky, Larry, whatever your name is, bring me ambrosia and nectar." I rolled my eyes and was tempted to leave them there and go back to camp, but Sam glared at me from the floor, and I sighed.

"Where is it?" I asked Vasilia.

She frowned, "What? I thought you brought it!"

"What do you mean? You're the one in charge!"

"Seriously? So nobody bothered to bring nectar and ambrosia?" I rummaged through my bag to double-check, but the only thing I found was Iris's special raisin oatmeal cookies I made before leaving.

"Well, I have oatmeal cooki-"

"NEVER!" She shouted before I could finish my sentence, "I don't trust your cooking!"

"Do you want to save your friend or not?" I said back.

She thought for a second before saying "Ugh. Okay fine. Give me one." Eyeing the cookie I gave her suspiciously, she gave a crumb to Olivia lying on the floor. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes, gagging.

"Eww. What did you just give me?" she asked. Vasilia glared at me pointedly.

"At least it worked," I said.

"It probably woke her up because it was disgusting," Valsilia said snidely.

***

We walked in silence through an unfamiliar city. Since the bus we took broke down, we had to walk down to the Crystal Cave, which was just a short distance, but still annoying.

"How long till we get there?" I asked for like the millionth time.

"I told you! We'll probably get there tomorrow." Vasilia answered, rolling her eyes.

"Can we rest? My legs hurt." I said, "Plus, Sam says he wants to poo,"

"Nope!" Vasilia said, "We can still walk a few hours more till it gets dark. We can rest then. Also, what is it with you and Sam?"

"Val, please. I think we all deserve some rest." Olivia said. It was the first time she said anything after the fight with the monster. Vasilia stared at her friend for some time before sighing.

"Fine, we can camp here for now, but we'll start walking before sunrise tomorrow."

POV Vasilia:

Making camp was hard. I didn't know that, because we always slept in hotels whenever we traveled. I mean, the tent we got was like the ones the Hunters of Artemis got, but finding water was hard.

It didn't help that I was in a bad mood, Lucia can get annoying, but then again, I did shout at her and glare at her and, okay fine, I might have hurt her feelings.

While I was out to find firewood, I thought about what Lucia might have felt like. Maybe I should just be empathetic, I thought.

I immediately regretted thinking that. As I arrived at camp I heard a rustling in the leaves, a dagger just like the ones Lucia had hit the tree next to me.

My instinct kicked in and I immediately lunged for the bush the sword had come from and saw that I had pinned down Lucia. I put away my dagger and glared at her.

"What are you doing here in the bushes?" I huffed, walking to a nice patch of dirt to make a fire on.

"I was on lookout duty, your friend is fast asleep," Lucia said her sword disappearing.

"Well, why are you hiding in the bushes," I scowled at her, and did I see that right, she flinched?

"Well, I... wanted stealth?" Lucia said while coming out of the bushes.

"And you didn't see that I was walking on two legs, had a bright orange camp half-blood shirt on, and wasn't drooling to find a 'delicious' demigod?" I replied starting a campfire with the wood I found.

"Fine, I'm sorry, I should have been more careful," Lucia stated, looking away.

I had a feeling that Lucia had some backstory that she thought about a lot. As she sat down on the floor, I came beside her.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I whispered to Lucia who was looking away.

She turned her head and I could see tears in her eyes.

"I... I..." she faltered, and I knew that I had hit her soft spot.

"Is it something about your family?" I asked, putting as much empathy in my voice.

"Yeah, my dad was, working for Kronos, and whenever she got mad, his eyes, he had flames inside of them," Lucia said, "When I saw you... I saw those same flames, anger, bitterness, but also self-loathing."

I felt my face soften and I replied, "Yeah, let's get some sleep, it's dark out and, I'm sorry I guess."

I truly felt sorry, but for what, I didn't know. It was like something clicked because we both had rough dad experiences I guess.

As night fell, I could feel my mind slipping into uneasy questions. What did Lucia mean about my eyes, and did that mean I had the same fate as her dad?