Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan. I don't own any works credited to his name. I'm not Cassandra Clare, either, and I don't own any works credited to her name, either. I'm simply just me, and I only own works credited to my own name. Check out my profile if you'd like to see those! (Writing Desk's Raven, previously JustAnotherChapter, Fangirl Queendom, and some other name I don't remember.)
Previously on More Than A Friend:
Standing in front of me, a few feet away, was Mikayla Leanne, the girl who was supposed to be dead.
~Sage's POV~
I'm not going to lie. I had a mini freak out. All this time, Mikayla hadn't really been dead. All this time, Eleos hadn't been who she'd said she was.
No. That wasn't true. Eleos had specifically said she couldn't tell anyone who she'd been, and that who she'd been was as good as dead. She hadn't lied about that.
What I didn't understand was why she didn't tell me, at least. No, I did understand, because she'd explained many times why she couldn't tell even the people who had been closest to her, not wanting or willing to put anyone in danger or at risk. I guess I was just hurt that she hadn't told me, even when she had a perfectly acceptable reason not to.
That all went through my head in about three seconds, and I wanted to say, or do, something, anything, but the female spoke again, speaking one last time to Eleos. "Lindsey and Gareth Leanne, Christian and Isaac Smith. They all live in the suburbs of Manhattan. Erin Leanne, off to college in Massachusetts, but visiting for the weekend. All your husband's family, gathered up in Ohio. Jacob Smith and Angela Cormack live in a lovely little apartment in the city. The girl was all too ready to help us out on that last one, with a little something slipped in her drink and her believing us mortal hitmen intent on ridding the world of demigods. The only lie was the word mortal."
"That bitch." Mikayla swore. "That little bitch."
"Such nice words to call your sister." The female tittered.
"Annika told me I'm no sister of hers. You should know that, seems you know everything else about me." Mikayla spat.
The female laughed. "You have until noon tomorrow. If you want none of them harmed, you know where you can find us."
"They're your only bargaining tools. You hurt any of them and you know I won't show." Mikayla challenged. She guarded her emotions well, but I could tell she was scared.
"You need a little convincing, then?" The female raised an eyebrow. "How about this?"
The male beside her disappeared. He was back moments later, this time with a fifteen year old girl struggling in his grip. The girl had blonde hair and stormy gray eyes, and wore a yellow sundress.
Mikayla's face paled when she saw the girl. "Bennie." She whispered.
The female held a dagger to the girl's throat. "Does this help convince you at all?" She asked. "We are not afraid to harm any one of them, because you will come, whether you believe at first you will or not. What were your words? 'Because I would gladly let this entire world be torn apart and burned to ashes for the safety of my loved ones.'"
Mikayla stiffened, but the female laughed and held the dagger closer to the girl's throat, a drop of bright red blood appearing. The girl herself had stopped struggling, and now stood staring stonily ahead, not a single muscle moving.
All of a sudden, the female sheathed her dagger. "I think you've been properly convinced. It's noon, now. You have twenty four hours." She said. And just like that, her and the male were gone.
~Third Person's POV~
It was as if time were suspended, when they left. No one moved, or made a noise, or did anything, afraid to break the silence and the odd trance everyone had entered.
The first person to do anything was the girl they'd brought up, and she ran over to Mikayla and threw her arms around her. Mikayla, as if in shock, hugged her back.
When the girl released her, she stepped back and tilted her head as she looked at her. "You broke your own rules, Micky."
"No words about anything else, Bennie?" Mikayla asked. "Not even how I'm here?"
"I always had this feeling, inside. I knew something didn't add up. You'd have made sure people knew you were gone. You'd not have gone without a huge fight, and there will be a ton of fanfare." Bennie told her. "But you broke your own rules. You can't do that, Micky."
"How did I break them?" Mikayla asked softly.
"You let your fear show. That's how they were able to control you into doing what they wanted. You know you're going to go." Bennie told her. "I might've been eight, but I remember your rules. 'If they get a hold of you, or someone or something important to you', you said, 'do not let them see it. Do not let them know. And if they get ahold of you, do not let the fear show. It will only give them more power over you'."
"I guess I broke my own rules." Mikayla whispered, voice broken.
"Yeah, you did. But you can make up for it by going and beating their asses so bad they never come back." Bennie told her.
"It's not that easy, Bennie." Mikayla told her.
"I know it isn't, Micky. But you have just over twenty four hours until you have to go. For now, you can take a little time and catch up with all your family. Especially me, you were my idol when I was eight and you were for the years after, too, though I saw you more as a sister, then." Bennie told her. "Also, it's weird, seeing you sixteen. I'll be sixteen, soon, and you're supposed to be alot older than me."
Mikayla's form flickered, and she was a young adult, maybe twenty, twenty one. "How's that work for you, Bennie? Good?" She asked.
"Good." Bennie told her with a smile. Mikayla pulled her into another hug.
~Sage's POV~
After that conversation, the room exploded into noise and movement and chaos, everyone broken out of that odd trance the creatures had left us in. Everyone clamored to get Mikayla's attention to explain, but then a voice, firm and demanding, called out. "Attention!"
Everyone turned to the voice to see Styx. Beside her, Athena stood bound in dark rope, something like fear in her eyes.
"Mikayla, I see you've held up your oaths." Styx said slyly, looking between Mikayla and I. She blushed and glanced down for a moment. "You held up your oaths, but your mother did not. I figured, since they both have to do with you, you can help me choose her punishment."
"What oaths?" Mikayla asked warily.
"All of the gods have ancient oaths that prevent them from harming Eleos, as you already know." Styx started. "But the day you survived your mother's wrath, due to your dip in my river, your mother made another oath. She swore that if she ever saw you again, she'd kill you herself." Mikayla was careful to keep her face blank, but Bennie looked like she was going to be sick.
"Now, obviously, no matter what she does, one of these oaths will be broken. And I'd really prefer the one broken be the second, so I pulled her in for breaking her vows. She hadn't technically broken them before today, she hadn't seen you as yourself but as Eleos, and so didn't know, and had slight leeway in her oaths, but not anymore."
"And you want me to... Decide what you do about that?" Mikayla asked cautiously.
"Yes." Styx said simply.
Mikayla looked at Bennie and said something in some language I didn't understand. Judging by the looks on everyone's faces as the two conversed, no one else knew what they were speaking, not even Athena, who was glaring between Styx and Mikayla.
Finally, Bennie nodded, glancing at Athena with distaste and a little hate. Then Mikayla spoke. "Take away her power."
"Take away her power?" Styx asked, tilting her head. Beside her, Athena let out protests muffled by the rope gagging her.
"Athena got too caught up in her own power. Because of it, she crossed a line, one not even gods should cross, and one that will take an eternity to cross back over, if she ever does." Mikayla explained. "Power put her into this position, and it would be a fitting justice to take it away."
Styx let out a laugh. "Have I ever told you how much I like you?" She asked. "Most in your place would go far greater lengths and get revenge. But you do not."
"I am not the embodiment of mercy for nothing, Styx." Mikayla said.
Styx seemed to accept this. Clearing her throat, she spoke loud and clear for everyone still in the throne room to hear. "From here onward, there are no longer twelve Olympians. There are eleven, and Athena will be reduced to that of a minor goddess. She is to have no say in major decisions, and no power on Olympus more than the minor gods have. My decision on her punishment for breaking her oaths is final, and any who go against my decision may face their own punishments for breaking oaths on myself."
With that declaration, Styx disappeared, taking Athena with her.
~Mikayla's POV~
When we got back to the house, I fully expected Sage to be angry with me. I expected something, whether yelling or screaming or him ignoring me.
But none of those things happened.
As soon as we got back to the house, I collapsed, crying, onto the couch, and Sage sat down next to me and held me. He held me while I cried, and when I managed to stop after ten or so minutes, he pulled me into a big hug.
"If you're going to yell at me, just get it over with, now, please." I said softly when he let go of me.
"Yell at you?" He asked. His face was a map of confusion. "Why would I yell at you?"
"Because I went and let everyone, even you, think I'd died, and I didn't tell you when I came back, and I let you think I was some other person this entire time, and now everything's all gone to hell." I said, wiping away fresh tears slipping out of my eyes.
"I'm not mad at you." He told me, setting his hands on my shoulders. "Not even close." He pulled me to him again, and kissed the top of my head.
"I love you, Mikayla." His whole body seemed to relax with those words, like some giant weight off his shoulders. "If anything, you should be mad at me."
"What reason would I have to be mad at you?" I asked. "You didn't do anything."
"I fell in love with you as Mikayla." He said. "And then I fell in love with you as Eleos. And the whole time, I felt so guilty, as if I was betraying your memory by falling for Eleos, or betraying Eleos by still loving Mikayla."
"It's not your fault for falling in love, Sage." I told him. "No one can help that, and loving someone you lost isn't at all wrong, either. My father loved Erin's mother more than anything else, and he loves Lindsey, now, too. He loves Cor, even though she's passed, but he still loves Lindsey, too, and there's nothing wrong with that." Sage was silent.
"It took me awhile to come to the realization that I loved you, but I think I always knew."
"I love you, Mick." Sage whispered.
"I love you, too, Sage." I told him. He held me for another moment, but then I pulled away. "We need to go check on Aliya, now."
"Oh my gods, I didn't even think what they might be done to her, what if-" I cut him off.
"They wouldn't have done anything to her. They know I'm going to go, and it gives them more satisfaction showing me that they don't have to do much to control me." I told him.
"You can't go, Mikayla, they'll kill you." He protested.
"I can't have this conversation right now." I said, shaking my head. "Right now, I just need to go see Aliya, and then my family and everyone else who thought I was dead for this past, what? Year, year and a half?"
"Somewhere around there." Sage said softly. He grabbed my hand. "C'mon, let's go see Aliya."
Aliya was duct taped to a chair when we got to Aphrodite's. Sage waved a hand and the duct tape melted into shadows, and Aliya was immediately on her feet, crying and hugging us both. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, so, sorry." She sobbed. "I had Everly when she came, and I tried to stop them, but one of them was with Athena, and he shifted into that awful form, and it made me remember what they did to me and I had a panic attack and I couldn't stop them from taking her."
"Aliya, it's not your fault." Sage told her, taking her shoulders much like he'd done to me earlier. "I don't think any of us could have stopped them, and anyone would've panicked when faced with that situation. I'm sorry that no one was here to help you with the panic attack, though."
"He didn't take Everly." Aliya said, stepping back. "He was trying to take them both, but I managed to make a mist version of her and he didn't get her, too. Not even Athena knew it was the mist."
"Where is she?" I asked softly.
Aliya took us to a remote part of the house, a janitor's closet off a deserted hallway not usually used. Everly was inside, nestled among a pile of blankets on the floor.
I knelt down and picked her up, cradling her in my arms. Glancing back at Sage, he read the question in my eyes and nodded, then spoke. "Just let me hold her, first." I handed our baby to him, and he stared down at her as he held her. "She's got Mick hair and Eleos eyes."
"She does." I said softly. Sage passed Everly back to me, and I gave her to Aliya. "Take her somewhere far, far away from here, where no one will find either her or you. Hide her, and keep yourself safe. You're our best friend, Aliya, and we'd like to see the both of you survive this."
"You guys sure you want me to do this?" Aliya asked quietly.
"Yeah." Sage confirmed. "You're likely the best to be able to hide, and we don't want to see you get hurt again. And like Mick said, you're our best friend, Aliya. And there's no one we'd trust more."
"Alright. I'm gonna miss you guys." Aliya said. Sage and I pulled her into a hug, careful not to squish Everly. When we pulled away, she gave us one last small smile before disappearing.
It was all I could do not to break down crying right there.
We visited my nephew first, because he already knew and it would be easier for me to say goodbye to him. Jake greeted us with a confused hello when we showed up in his apartment, commented on my hair, and burst into tears when I told him I was leaving and most likely would never see him again. He hugged me for a long time, but I eventually told him I had to go visit the rest of my family. Angie gave me a hug, too.
Before I could leave, he made me swear that if there were even a tiny chance for me to come back, I had to take it, no matter how dangerous. I swore it to me, but told him I wouldn't take a chance that put someone else in immense danger.
Christian and Issac were the second visit. My brother was upset, but he understood, more than anyone, why I had to go. His mind was alike my own in that sense. He viewed the world the same, followed the same logic. Christian and Isaac both told me to take care before we left, even though we all knew that wasn't going to happen.
We visited Sage's family third, and my siblings at camp fourth. It was easier staying goodbye to people who I didn't really know as well. I'd met Sage's family, yeah, but I wasn't really even friends with anyone. As for camp, I only actually knew a few siblings that went to camp, the closest to me being Bennie. I spent maybe an hour with them, and through all their planning and strategizing to get me out of this, I knew I would have to go.
It, strangely, didn't matter much to me anymore. The thought of dying, of being tortured, even. If it made everyone I cared for safe, then so be it. The part that mattered to me was the part where once they'd had their fun torturing me, they'd kill me, and then they would take over the world with their chaos and evil. That was not a world I wanted anyone to have to live in.
The last people we visited were my dad, brother, and stepmom. I twisted my hands nervously after ringing the bell, awaiting the reaction of whoever opened the door.
I didn't expect the reaction I got, nor did I expect the person who opened the door.
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