The new demigod's quest

Ashton's Past

"Are you awake" I hear a voice say, interrupting my thoughts. I turn to my right to see Ashton staring at me. I smile and say "yeah why?". "The fire needs more wood" he snaps rudely making me look down at the wood. I was shocked for a second at his tone. He hadn't been rude in over 12 hours and I guess I forgot how mean he always is. My sudden cold feelings for him come crawling back.

I glare back at him "If you want a fire so bad then you can get the wood" I snap back. He scowls at me while getting up and walking deep into the woods. I lean my head back and close my eyes to think. What was his problem? He was acting like an actual human being for a while and now he is acting like his normal awful self. I just couldn't figure him out.

After a few minutes he returns with a pile of wood. I get up to help him and reach out for the logs. Just as my hands reach around the logs he unexpectedly jerks them back towards him and they fall out of his hands and onto the ground "See what you just did! You destroy EVERYTHING!" He screams at me making me red with anger.

"What is the matter with you!" I shot at him "What is the matter with me? What is the matter with you! Your lazy, arrogant, childish, foolish,act like everything is a game and ontop of all that you make it impossible to actually like your company!" He shouts, venom in every word that comes out of his mouth. For a second I am hurt by his words but I easily shake it off. This is Ashton we are talking about. Why in the world would his words affect me?

"You can't be talking Mr. I'm so much superior than everyone around me! You are always rude, mean, inconsiderate, unfriendly, unlikeable and on top of all that it would literally kill you to give anyone a compliment" I shout back going red in the face from anger.

His face turns dark "You think I like being this way? Having to shut everyone out! Having to hurt anyone who shows me even the slightest bit of sympathy? I don't like it! I hate the person I act like!" I raise my hands up in utter exasperation "Then why do you act like it?" "BECAUSE I DONT WANT TO GET HURT AGAIN!" he yells and kicks the tree as hard as he can and then crumbles to the floor and starts sobbing.

I am frozen in shock for a minute but then slowly sink down to the ground and put a hand on his knee. He looks up and shoves my hand away "I don't need your sympathy" He snaps bringing his knees closer to his body "No, I know you don't but you do need to let off some steam. Tell me what happened" I say gently. I wait a minute as he stops crying enough to build up a sentence.

"There was this girl" he began his story "Who was my best friend at one time. I could tell her anything and she was so kind and considerate to me. Her name was Margrett. I easily opened up to her and told her stuff about me. She would walk home with me every day after school to my house where she would come inside, do homework, and we would play with my little sister. I loved my little sister and she meant the world to me. She was the only person I had seeing as my mother was an alchoholic and my dad was long since gone since he of course he has to leave being a god and all".

"After a few months I started to develop feelings for her. She just was amazing and one day I told her that I loved her" Ashton's voice cracks a little at that part and he looks at me "And you know what she did? She laughed in my face and told me that she was too good for me" a tear slips down his face but he continues.

"That day as I walked home alone I heard my little sister scream from inside. I ran inside and saw a hybrid lunge at her. I tried to fight back and I reached for a knife and stabbed it in its' side and it let her go but it was too late" He is full out sobbing now and I am crying a little bit too. "She was already dead. As I held her close to my body the hybrid turned to me while its' golden blood was draining out of it and said "Tell you're friend Margrett I said thanks for the address". It laughed viciously as I sat there frozen. I don't know how long I sat there staring at the wall with tears running down my face, minutes? hours? But I did eventually get up and started running down the street.

"Soon after that a Satyr found me and took me to Camp Half Blood and I've never been the same since" He finishes with a gasp of air. I look at him for a while as he looks at me. All of the sudden I grab him and hug him tight around his stomach. A few more tears escape his eyes and are now mixed in mine since my head was on his neck.

He leans back on the tree and we sit there in a nice silence before he breaks it. "There was a reason I was so hard on you when I first met you" I look up into his eyes as he continues "You look so much like her, besides her having green eyes and freckles, you also act a lot like her. Stubborn, consistant, brave, witty, always looking for an argument and always giving compassion to those who need it".

I felt disgusted being compared to the witch as I look up at him "I promise I will never betray you" I say looking deep into his eyes meaning every word.He sighs and responds in a small voice "okay".

Soon after that I lay my head on his lap as we look up at the stars and name the different constellations. Ashton pointes out more constellations than I can remember. I try to impress him by pointing out the big dipper but he just shakes his head and tells me that the stars that I'm pointing at make a triangle.

We have a long argument over the so called triangle constellation until he finally gives in to my stubborness and falls asleep. I lay my head back on his lap in victory and smile up at the stars as I fall into a deep sleep.

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"You think she's awake?"

"I don't think so."

"Should I poor cold water on her?"

"Not unless you want her to electrocute you Valdez"

"How bad is it when she electrocutes you?"

"It hurts like hell"

"Eh. I'll take my chances"

This is what I woke up to the next morning. Before anything happens I state while keeping my eyes closed "I swear Valdez if you even think about dumping water on me I'll make sure to put you on a one way ticket to a meet and greet with Hades himself" I growl openng my eyes seeing Leo quickily put a bucket down. Wise choice buddy.

"Is there a reason you woke me up so early" I glare at Leo and Ashton looking at the sunrise that just started. "Yes" Ashton replies looking at me "We just got an iris message from Chiron. He is waiting. He wants to talk to all three of us".