True Blue ✷ Leo Valdez.

29: Narcissus and Echo.

SUNNY GARFEILD AND Olivia Kingsley were once the only things lacking of complexity in Blaire Sullivan's tragic life. Whilst everything else around Blaire seemed to be crumbling, coming unraveled at the seams in account of her ancient family history, her two best friends remained a much-needed- constant through it all. At first, she was incredibly hesitant to allow anyone past the walls she'd spent so long constructing around her true persona, but the two were so insistent on forming a bond with her, it was impossible to deny their attempts at friendship.

       Sunny came first-- he was the one who'd bandaged her up on that stormy night she'd arrived trembling, and bleeding outside of Camp's magically enchanted borders. Sunny was only five, a year younger than Blaire, and he was being trained to become a medic by his elder siblings. As an Apollo child, he was expected to have a knack for healing others, though that could not have been further from the truth. He stood beside his big brother and slapped a measly bandage over a gaping wound on Blaire's knee, not even bothering to try and disinfect or further heal the injury. He wore a matching bandage on the bridge of his nose, beneath his red-rimmed glasses that were slipping down his freckled face. The bandaid had a colorful striped pattern and he insisted that it would do wonders to cheer the distraught girl up. It did not.

    Blaire would see him around Camp after that and he would wave to her like they were best buds or something because he'd given her a rainbow bandage. This went on for several weeks, and eventually, Blaire started waving back. And when Blaire was finally claimed and lumped with the other Hecate kids, she'd attend their archery lessons led by the Apollo cabin. Sunny would always stand beside her and offer up his own advice--though it was not very helpful-- he would also make silly, pointless jokes and giggle at all the wrong times. Despite herself, Blaire found she quickly took a liking to him. Maybe it was because the two were of the few campers so young...or, maybe it was because Sunny was the first good thing she'd encountered since her father passed.

    Either way, they quickly bonded, becoming nearly inseparable within mere weeks of knowing eachother. Then came Olivia, who ambused them years later with her rapid fire way of speaking and glittery eyeshadow. Blaire took much longer to warm up to her. It was many months after their first encounter when the daughter of hecate had finally entrusted the girl with her friendship. A daughter of Aphrodite-- one of Olivia's many siblings-- was teasing Blaire about her quiet demeanor, taunting her about her mysterious past, and Olivia stood up for Blaire despite how cold she'd previously been to her.

After that, the three of them were as thick as thieves, forming a bond that hardly wavered. Until    Olivia betrayed them for the Titan army, falling for the faux illusion of winning the war her allies started.  From there on, the normalcy that was their friendship was corrupted. A terrible string of events spawning from Olivia's apparent blood-lust destroyed the only good thing Blaire had left. Death and tragedy became something familiar to Blaire, acquainting itself with her. And this was all because of Olivia.

So, when Hazel asked in innocent curiosity, "Who is Olivia?" Blaire wasn't sure what to say.

She was half tempted to round on Hazel and scold the girl for her nosiness, but something lodged itself deep in her throat and prevented her from saying anything.

For a moment, she was confused as to how Hazel knew anything about Olivia— but then the memory of her uterring the girl's name after Nemisis appeared as her flashed through her head.

"Nobody," Blaire lied, her voice strangled. She could feel Leo's eyes glued to the side of her face from where he strolled beside her. He surveyed her as if he were trying to dissect the crease between her brows— to find the truth in the downward tilt of her mouth.

"Oh," Hazel said. It was obvious she didn't believe the older girl but didn't feel the need to press. "And," she looked past Blaire and to Leo. "who is Aunt Rosa?"