"What?" I asked for the third time, there was just no way what he was asking was what I was hearing.

"Sam, you should be the king. Not me." he said again fidgeting his cape, his symbol. I stared at him, just above me I could hear Will squealing with delight. Hylla must have had him feel for a kick, he was always a sucker for babies.

Hearing that is what drove me to my answer.

"No." I said before standing up and heading for the door.

"Sam please! I'm not a leader, at least not yet. I can't lead the Gargareans but you can! You did! In one of the worst moments in our history you pulled us together! You rallied us! You led us! The only thing I've done is let it fall into the hands of the Triumvirate." he pleaded.

I had my hand on the doorknob but I hadn't turned it as he spoke. I mean, I'm not gonna fault him there, everything he said was true. I lowered my hand and hung my head "I can't Amos, I almost lost myself because of it. I can't put Hylla through that again, not with my child on the way. Not when she needs me the most." I explained.

"Oh but you'll go and fight an entire army base by yourself? She needs you the most and you lie and nearly die all the while saying this is the best!?" Amos said sounding angry.

I turned to him and glared at him "Watch it Amos, you are treading dangerous water here." I said but he waved it off and continued.

"You claim this is for Hylla! You claim that this is the best way to go about things! You claim this and that promise to change and promise to be better but all you do is go in guns blazing! This is not about Hylla! This is about your bloodlust!" he shouted and I snapped.

I grabbed him by his collar and shoved him against the wall I could feel my eyes burning as they glowed, when they glow I tend to kill! My breathing was shaky now "You don't know what you are talking about Amos! You know nothing about what I have been through! Need I remind you that you are the one that went along with locking me in a cell and forcing me to fight in an arena for four goddamn months!? That it was all your plan!? I lost my mind! I nearly lost everything dear to me because of some half assed plan that you had that I'm pretty sure you only said so I didn't kill you!" I said slamming him into the wall again causing it to crack.

"So what your saying is that it's never about anger? It's about protecting who you love?" Amos asked curiously and I snarled but nodded. He gave a soft smile "So you being king wouldn't be out of anger but out of protection? As was our original purpose? If you became king again you wouldn't lose your mind, you would strengthen it by focusing on your family. Knowing you had the power to protect them and the ones at camp. I have no family except for my demigod siblings. I don't have the same drive as you and god help me I've tried to find one." he said as I continued to push him against the wall.

"The Gargareans needs a leader that isn't afraid to fight for the ones he loves. You gave up the mantle because you wanted to heal your mental state, you did just that. It's always been your birthright Sam, you named me king because you thought I was the best for the job in that moment then you left! Sam, you have the determination and strength that hasn't been seen since your great grandfather." he said and then I stopped holding him and set him down.

"My great grandfather? What the hell are you talking about?" I asked curiously.

"Kazdan Strife, known among the ranks as The Champion. One of the greatest fighters we have ever seen, why do you think your grandfather was such a hardass tyrant? Because his father had him training in the Gargareans since he was just a child." Amos explained.

I narrowed my eyes "You better have a fucking point to this Amos." I said angrily.

"Of course I have a point to this you idiot." Amos said as he adjusted his cape and walked back over to the chairs and sat down, I did the same. He took a deep breath "Kazdan was the same, he gave up his kingship because he was young and inexperienced. He could fight but he could not lead, but the fact that he willingly stopped showed strength no other king has shown until you. No one would willingly give up that kind of power unless they knew they couldn't wield it properly. Knowing that about yourself, I think would make you one of the best kings we've ever had Sam." he finished.

Okay...still sort of waking up but did that somehow make sense to any of you? Cause that hit me like a fucking train. Me not wanting to be king makes me a good king? The fuck? Is he high?

"Amos? I want you to listen to me very carefully." I said and he leaned forward to hear me. I sighed "I can't be the king, I'm afraid the power would go to my head again, that certain thoughts may return or actually...a better word is escape actually." I clarified.

"Escape?" Amos asked curiously, and it occurred to me that he never actually knew what was going on with me when I first became king. He never knew how fractured I was, how split I was, how evil I was.

"I truly did go insane under captivity Amos, I saw hallucinations of myself from different key points of my life. The worst of them was my evil self, the one that relished war and carnage, that wanted chaos and death. All those dark thoughts that I push down manifested. They took over and I that was the king you knew, the king that wanted to slaughter everyone in his path, to flood the underworld with the innocent and have the world run red with blood. To see cities burn, fall, and get turned into nothing but rubble! To watch all of them-"

"Sam!" Amos shouted jarring me from my thoughts, the thoughts I avoided every day, the thoughts I never wanted but desperately wished I could have.

"Sorry..." I muttered looking down just barely able to see Amos in my peripheral, but Amos didn't look scared he looked at me with curious eyes. I finally was able to look back at him "Anyway, that's why I can't be king Amos. Someone so dark should never have power." I said standing up and walking to the door.

"If it was the only way would you do it?" Amos asked softly causing me to freeze again.

"If it was the only way to save the Gargareans, the only way to save Hylla, your child, would you reclaim it?" he asked.

I looked at my hands that were shaking violently at the memories of my time as king, but then I thought about Hylla, the feeling of my baby growing, how happy we both were to feel it kick...

"I hope to god I never have to find out." I responded.

Then I walked out.

REVIEW!