Four False Lives

R I P T I D E

I sat on the edge of Olympus's roof, overlooking the lights of the city. The sounds of traffic greeted my ears as I watched tiny specs walk around the streets.

"Hey Tide," Leo climbed up from the steps and came to sit next to me.

"Tide? Leo, you already know my real name," I said.

"Yeah, but this is how it used to be. Maybe if I call you Tide again and pretend we don't know each other secrets,—"

"—things will go back to how they used to be," I finished. I turned to stare back at the city, looking at the prison. "Where do you think they went?"

Even without having to say it, Leo knew what I meant. "I don't know. It's just, I can't put them together. Frank and Annabeth were always so nice, but. . ."

I just nodded, not saying anything. It was hard to remember that my girlfriend who I would die for was also the reason I nearly had died.

"Do you think—" Leo paused, "—do you think they were sorry for what they did? Do you think they cared at all,"

"They were villains," I said softly. "We have to remember that. We've locked thousands of them away, some of them have had to die because of it. But none of them were sorry when they were committing the crimes, why should it matter if they're sorry now?"

"Yeah, but, this time it just feels different. I've imagined this moment for years, but I always thought we'd be partying. But now, now it feels real. We knew them, Percy. We loved them,"

"Didn't someone know them every time? It's just, now that someone is us. They were villains, Leo. We have to remember that,"

"When I took this job, I did it to keep everyone safe. I wanted to be the one to keep my family safe, but now I'm. . .I'm the reason they're gone,"

"They hurt people. We couldn't keep them alive with the risk that they would hurt people again. I wish they had made a different choice, a better choice. But we were told that when we signed up to be hero, that we would be happy one moment and the next. . .and the next we'd be in pain,"

Leo didn't say anything after that, he just sat there with me and looked at the city.

But that was a year ago, and since then, we've hung up our capes. We still work at Olympus, but now behind the scenes. Leo and I have been training our new replacements who use our same names. Tyson and Harley have come a long way since then.

Grover and Hazel still work there, in the coms together although Leo and I help occasionally. Nico became a hero after realizing how hurt we were, him and Will becoming an iconic duo.

We got two new roommates as well, they seem nice enough. Both of them were introduced to us through Olympus, so we don't have to worry about more secrets. They seem nice, Piper and Jason never push about how we got qualified to the Olympus building.

Don't think my stories over, heroes keep fighting until the death. And my death hasn't come yet. But it hurts knowing theirs have.

I was always told lying is bad, but in the end when everyone finally came clean, honesty didn't seem much better.

Now, there's not four false lives anymore. It's just two broken ones.

But hey, I knew what I was getting signed up for when I became a superhero. But I guess what could you expect when your living four false lives?