FORTITUDINE (COMPLETED)

25) Inside Thanatos' Mind

I sat up as the cold air quickly filled my lungs. I looked around the Great Hall slightly confused. And then it all came rushing back.

'Alexa actually had the guts to kill me when I least expected it. Wait. Alexa killed me. She won the Battle of New Thoughts. Great.' I thought with a sigh.

A loud gasp interrupted my thoughts and I looked across from me and saw Alexa sit up in her chair. I watched her as she looked around the room before her eyes landed on me.

I took a deep breath trying to keep my anger in check. 'You can't show her that she gets to you.' I thought to myself as she quickly looks down at the arm of her chair.

The sound of someone clearing their throat brought me out of my thoughts and I looked up to see Papa watching us.

"Congratulations Alexandra for winning the Battle of New Thoughts. You both did very well and I am proud of both the strength and courage you showed during this Trial. With enough said, go and get some rest. The next Trial will begin tomorrow afternoon."
When he finished, Papa and the other elders stood and left the room.

I see Alexa stand and begin to walk away so I jump up and run until I'm right behind her. I reach out and grab her arm and I can feel her stiffen at my touch.

Suddenly at a loss for words I lean down to her ear and say the first thing that came to my mind. "You may have won the first Trial yet again but this is far from over I still think you cheated somehow and I promise you sister, you will die." I spit before letting go of her arm and walk around her.

'That isn't exactly what I wanted to say...let's try one more time. Come on, it's three words...three words.'

As I open the door I look back and see Alexa frozen to the floor watching me.

I smile but I'm pretty sure it turned out to be a smirk. "One way...or another." I call out to her and walk out the door, closing it behind me.

'I've been pretending to hate her for far too long...' I think as I walk away.

~~~~~~~~~~

"How did it go?" Asked Julia as I fell face first onto my bed.

"Terrible." I mumble as I roll over onto my back.

"That bad eh?" She asks as she sits down beside me and rubs a soothing hand on my chest.

I hum in response and throw an arm over my eyes. Julia grabs the hand that's over my fave and pulls me up off of the bed.

"So she won this Trail, that's fine. We just have to make sure that it doesn't happen again." She says as she drags me out of the room and down to the stairs.

As we pass Alexa's room I hear shouting and laughing coming from her and those London boys. 'Alexa sure can be clueless sometimes.' I think to myself and sigh.

"Where are you taking me Julia?" I ask her as the tiny blonde drags me down the stairs and through the hall.

"Food always makes things better!" Is all she says before opening the dinning room doors.

And there stands my family along with Blayne, Jacob, and Gaius. 'Oh no.' I think.

"Happy birthday Thanatos!" They all shout. My jaw slacked and my eyebrows shot up.