(MILD SPOILER WARNING FOR MARK OF ATHENA SORRY FAM)


Seeing Ellie again after what seemed like forever gave me unexpected chills. This whole business was very sudden and very unlike Marlene, so what exactly was the deal with her? Why was she so important that Marlene finally revealed that she'd been hiding her from me all along?

I swallowed hard, clenching my jaw as I kept walking, my footsteps - along with Dad's and Ellie's - echoing against the creaky wooden floor of the North Tunnel. The trip towards the North Tunnel was a little bitch, considering how many patrols drove past us as we were making our way here. Posters of Marlene and various other Fireflies were pasted on the sides of buildings, it certainly didn't help when we saw the number of bodies lining the street on the way here. Bits of broken glass were still scattered around, but my sneakers crunched against them, unfazed. Rays of sunlight poured in through the relatively dark surroundings, but we kept moving, me in the back, Ellie in the middle, Dad leading the way.

"So.. this tunnel. You use it to smuggle things?" Ellie asked, looking around with the kind of curiosity I used to harbor when I was her age.

Dad nodded, not looking back when he replied gruffly, "Yup."

"Like.. illegal things?"

"Sometimes," Dad admitted.

Ellie didn't waste her breath before asking, "Ever smuggle a kid before?" I snorted, the corner of my mouth twitching at that.

Talkative, much more talkative than Anna was.

"No, that's a first," Dad responded. "What's the deal with you and Marlene, anyways?"

I kept quiet, waiting for her to respond. I hadn't seen this kid in fourteen years and here she was, an almost living breathing reincarnation of my dead best friend. "I don't know," she says. "She's my friend, I guess."

"You friend, huh?" Dad scoffed, I could practically hear him smiling from here. "You're friends with the leader of the Fireflies. What're you, like, twelve?"

"She knew my mom, and she's been looking after me," Ellie answered, the tone in her voice oddly calm. I winced when she mentioned Anna, considering Marlene had kept Ellie hidden away after all this time. We were supposed to take care of her together, no matter how many excuses Marlene makes, I don't think I'll ever forgive her for making this one. "And I'm fourteen," she cut in, "not that that has anything to do with anything."

"Where are your parents?" Dad asked dumbly. I shot a glare at the back of his head, realizing he wasn't at all paying attention to what I'd told him about Anna all those years before.

"Dad-" I whispered, sighing in frustration.

"Where are anyone's parents?" Ellie replied bitterly. "They've been gone a long, long time."

Dad was being a sarcastic little shit, so his roll of smart remarks certainly wasn't ending. "So instead of staying in school, you ran off and joined the Fireflies, is that it?"

"Look," Ellie said to him exasperatedly, "I'm not supposed to tell you why you're smuggling me if that's what you're getting at. That goes for you, too," Ellie said to me pointedly.

"I didn't even say anything, kiddo," I replied with a snort, raising my hands in surrender.

Dad turned his head to look at Ellie briefly, "You wanna know the best thing about my job? I don't gotta know why. Be honest with you, I could give two shits about what you're up to."

"Well great," Ellie shot back.

"Good." I cleared my throat, rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly because of this situation. I sighed, relieved when I saw the apartment door. Dad unlocked it, walking in. "This is it," Dad said unnecessarily. Ellie walked in, me following behind. Dad plopped himself on the couch in the middle of the room, sighing in relief as he lay down on it. I walked towards the kitchen counter, pouring myself a drink.

Ellie looked at him in confusion, "What're you doing?"

"Killing time," Dad said as if it was an obvious statement to make.

"Well.. what am I supposed to do?" Ellie asked dryly.

Dad didn't even bother looking at her, "I am sure you will figure that out."

Ellie looked around, making her way to the couch by the window. "Your watch is broken," Ellie said, to which Dad scoffed before falling asleep.

I twitched, my grip on the bottle tightening. Sarah and I got that watch for Dad's birthday. Twenty fucking years ago. It feels like forever since I've even thought about Texas. I'd been living in Boston for so long I nearly forgot what it was like. Not having to worry about anything, anyone. Well, Dad obviously, Sarah and Andy, too. We were still kids, having fun for a little while longer before deciding what to do with ourselves in the future.

I took a swig of the scotch, the burning sensation of alcohol at the back of my throat becoming all too familiar. I let out a little cough before sealing the bottle again. I let out the briefest of sighs before making my way to the couch, leaning against it as I slumped to the floor. Ellie sat on the individual couch in the corner, staring out the window, despite not having much to look at. The sky was dull and drab as always, and here she was, the daughter of my dead best friend, looking outside as if it were the Mona Lisa.

"Bored?" I asked her, pressing a hand to my eye tiredly. Ellie looked over at me, that same curious gleam in her eyes. "I, uh. I have a book here if you want?" I offered.

Ellie got up, sitting beside me on the floor as I unzipped my backpack. I pulled the book, passing it to her. "The Mark of Athena?" Ellie asked, flipping past the fading pages. "I love the smell of old books."

"Same," I replied, giving her the smallest of smiles.

"What's it about?" Ellie asked me, putting the book beside her.

I licked my lips, scoffing. "This is the third book in the Heroes of Olympus series, a continuation of the Percy Jackson series."

"You're not making it any clearer," she deadpanned.

I laughed quietly, not wanting to wake Dad. "Well, it's about a boy, whose name is Percy Jackson-"

"Obviously," Ellie cut in, grinning.

I brushed it off, continuing, "Who finds out he's the son of Poseidon."

Ellie cut me off again, "Who's Poseidon?"

I stopped, arching an eyebrow at her. "I'm starting to think you don't want me to tell you what it's about, kiddo."

Ellie smiled sheepishly at me, rubbing the back of her neck. "I don't know whether this is basic knowledge shit or not," she confessed.

I smirked, replying, "It used to be. I shouldn't be expecting you to know, so sorry kiddo. Poseidon's the sea god, according to Greek mythology. Percy eventually finds out his friends are Greek gods' kids too and they're called demigods. It's all modern day Greek mythology shenanigans, and I loved it. This was my favorite series as a kid, next to Harry Potter, of course."

"You said something about this book," Ellie held it, her fingers brushing along the cover art, "being the third in the series?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Two more were supposed to come out, one annually, but.." I trailed off, unsure of how to answer.

"Did the writer die?" Ellie whispered.

I put my hands together at the back of my neck, shrugging, "Who knows? The fourth book was supposed to come out a month after the Cordyceps hit, but.." I snorted, smiling bitterly, "Well, I'm guessing you already know what happened."

"The world went to shit?" Ellie prompted.

"The world went to shit."

There was a comfortable pause before Ellie asked, "What happens at the end of the book?"

I grinned, remembering what it was like to talk about books with friends. Ellie's the daughter of my dead best friend, I'm one of her two godmothers. "Well, we're left thinking two of the main characters have died." I laughed bitterly before continuing, "I waited for nearly a year, but then it became twenty-one years. Everyone who read this damn series will never know how the series fucking ended." I wanted to know what happened to Percy and Annabeth. Nico, Jason, and Piper. Frank and Hazel. Leo, too. I'd never be able to find out unless I found Uncle Rick, he's probably already dead at this point. "Enough about me," I broke in. "What's your life been like?"

"You, uh. You mentioned something about looking for me?" Ellie asked. "I didn't wanna interrupt when you were yelling at Marlene, but.." Ellie was hesitant, almost scared even, "..that was pretty intense."

I scoffed, getting up to grab another drink. I tossed my backpack aside, a couple of its contents spilling out. I breathed out a curse, brushing it off as I headed for the kitchen counter. I didn't even bother pouring the scotch into the glass, this time, sitting on the stool and drinking straight from the bottle. Tess wasn't the type to drink on the job, so as far as I knew, the rest of it was mine. It's not like there was much in the bottle anyway.

Ellie was hunched over, crouching down as she started picking up a few of the things that slipped out of my pack. "Leave the shit that fell out," I coughed. "It's fine, I'll get it." She ended up cleaning up everything, carrying a couple of the items as she walked over to me. I raised an eyebrow at her, glancing at what she was looking at. My face paled when I saw her looking at my little sketch book. "That's nothing," I stammered, "those aren't really meant for looking." Pencil drawings of anything and everything that came to mind whizzed by my line of vision.

Caught between one of the pages, a polaroid picture slipped out onto the floor. Ellie, still holding onto my things, knelt down, reaching for the polaroid picture.

Logan.

I pressed my lips together, taking it from her hastily. "You weren't meant to see that," I whispered, my throat suddenly dry.

"Who is he?" Her voice was quiet, understanding. "I didn't mean to. It just.. slipped out." Ellie put the remainder of my things on the counter, the items being my old picture album, sketchbook and my copy of the Mark of Athena.

I sighed, my thumb gliding along the white plastic border of the picture. This was taken the day of my first mission, long before the day Logan had kissed me. I bit the corner of my lip, not knowing where to start. "His name was Logan, he was my first.." I trailed off again, my mind wandering.

"He was your first..?" Ellie prompted.

I laughed weakly, swinging my legs back and forth under the counter. "Logan was my first everything, really. My first real love, my first boyfriend, my first fiancé, my first husband." I paused, not really knowing what to say. "Does it still count when said person walks out on you?"

"I wouldn't know," Ellie shrugged. "Did you.."

"Love him?" I said. Ellie nodded. I smiled meekly, remembering the small moments of bliss I felt when I had Logan by my side. Despite walking out on me, Logan did love me. He supported me when things went downhill, and there I was, treating him like a pile of shit and shutting him out. I'd ruined him and I brought on his leave on myself. "I did, some days I remember that I still do."

"How long's it been?"

I let out a scoff, swallowing hard and closing my eyes briefly. "Ten years starting tomorrow."

"I'm sorry," Ellie whispered. "I didn't mean to bring it up. I can see how much it's hurting you."

I took another swig of scotch, shutting my eyes tightly due to the alcohol being ingested in my system. "It's what-the-fuck-ever, you know?" I shrugged, "Pass me my sketchbook, kiddo."

"It's Ellie," she said, gently reminding me.

I waved her off, "I'm aware, Elizabeth."

Ellie raised an eyebrow, appalled. "Elizabeth?"

"I helped your mom name you, kiddo," I smiled, in the sickeningly sweet sense. It took me about half a second to realize that I was getting a tad too tipsy for my liking, but all these buried memories were starting to rise to the surface when I wanted to forget them. "Your dad didn't want you having a sissy name, you know."

"Yeah?" she replied, the slightest hint of intrigue and amusement lacing her voice as Ellie spoke to me. I think she's witnessed her fair share of aggressive drunkenness, never foolish tipsy shits like me.

I wagged a finger at her, giving her a toothy grin, "Hell yeah, kiddo. His name was Mark, and holy fuck, was he an ass." Ellie leaned forward, almost soaking up my words like a sponge. "He was one hell of a goddamn bully, but he came through in the end. Anna put up with all of his shit, good and bad. Despite his asshat behavior, your mom really did love him, saw good in him sooner than the rest of us could."

"How did you get to know him?" Ellie asked. "Actually, how'd you get to know them both?"

Despite my tipsiness, I was still drinking. I remembered why Dad and Tess kept the scotch away from me, they knew how little self-control I had. "Your dad was one of the first few Fireflies that I met when I joined them with my Uncle Tommy. Even then, Mark acted like he had a stick shoved up his ass."

Ellie chuckled, grinning at me. "Was he really that bad?"

"Man, he was the worst," I breathed out. "Fuck, sorry."

"Why? What's wrong?"

I blinked and a moment of realization dawned on me. "We shouldn't talk bad of the dead."

Ellie paled, clearing her throat. "I figured as much, but.. Keep going. I wanna know more about my parents."

"I'm afraid I'll start shit talking Mark again," I admitted, reaching for the bottle. Ellie took it instead, closing the bottle and putting it at the far end of the counter so that I couldn't reach it. "Aww, you're no fun," I pouted.

"Just talk about Mom then," Ellie said, still smiling, despite the fact that I'd just insulted her dead father.

"She was the head nurse of the Fireflies," I began, the memories flooding in. "We mostly did supply runs, so I'd see her here and there. Anna helped me get the kinks together when I first joined, so I owed her a lot."

Images of my 17-year old self carrying boxes of medicine to Anna came back, occasionally striking a conversation in between shifts. Haley was off hitting on Tony in the back, Logan was on his way here with a few more boxes.

I took a deep breath, "When Logan and I left the Fireflies, Anna and Mark joined us. Obviously, Marlene wasn't too happy about that. Fast forward a few years, Anna was pregnant with you, kiddo. Oddly enough, it took me getting a little tipsy for me to notice the bump that was you."

A small smile was creeping onto Ellie's face. She was finally getting answers to unanswered questions. "Sorry for throwing all this at you, I just.. I've wanted to know a lot for a while, about Mom. Dad, too so.. thank you."

I grinned toothily at her, muttering, "I feel sleepy," before clocking out on the kitchen counter.

Fantastic first impression on your godchild, Miller.


A/N: An update? What? Trust me, I'm just as shocked as all of y'all. I was feeling very inspired, so voila. Bask in this update because it'll be a while until the next one. Soz famamalam okay ily all bye