Frank stared lazily at the carpet beneath him as he hung his head. When he blinked, the carpet started to look more like a blurred mat than anything else. It made him feel like he was crashing back to the ground, off of his confident pedestal he built for himself. Just like his fight against Kahale. Memories flashed through his head, and Frank closed his eyes tightly.

There was this oppressive feeling in his chest that he couldn't identify. It kept squeezing his lungs, tearing at his chest and freeing all the air from inside him. He couldn't breathe and tugged at his shirt to alleviate the pressure. There was this feeling of being choked by invisible hands.

His face started aching like he was being punched again. He tensed as he remembered the heavy clubs crashing into his face. Frank never saw that first punch coming. He thought they would back away to gain distance and then fight. The last thing he expected was for Kahale to throw a haymaker, and Frank's entire plan went out the window.

Frank was too busy trying to protect his face to go for the legs. All he remembered was trying to counter with a punch, but he felt like a million ants were crawling up his legs. Then, he opened his eyes and found himself dazed and laying back on the mat. Will and Lupa knelt over him, concern flooding their faces.

"Frank?" Lupa called to him. Frank snapped back to attention and slowly looked up at his mentor. "Did you hear what I said?"

"No. I'm sorry," Frank mumbled. He rubbed his temples where a headache was beginning. "Sorry. I'm just distracted today."

"It's okay, Frank. We all have those days," Lupa said, a hint of concern still in her tone. "Do you want to talk about your fight?"

"There's nothing to talk about," Frank dismissed quickly. He shook his head and looked back at the desk. "It was a loss. It's whatever."

"If you need to talk, Frank, we can talk," Lupa said kindly. "A loss is hard, especially one by knockout. I have experienced a few in my career, and they are hard to bounce back from. Frank, you can bounce back from this. Just don't lose confidence in yourself."

Frank just shrugged. Lupa continued, "The best thing to do is get right back on the horse and get another fight."

"I guess," Frank muttered. What did it even matter? He would just screw this one up too. "What choices do I have?"

A silence filled the room for a moment. Octavian was standing next to Lupa's desk like always. He finally spoke, "Both fight offers that you had before you chose Kahale have withdrawn. It's not as bad as it sounds. Now, you can choose who you want to fight, and we'll send the offer to their manager."

Frank shrugged again and rested his eyes. He knew Octavian was just trying to put a positive spin on things, but Frank knew better. A drunk and a man with one eye no longer wanted to fight him. Frank was useless. Weak.

Frank lowered his head onto his fist and winced as he dropped it a little too hard, sending some pain through his head. He knew he didn't have a concussion. Lupa made him go through the testing multiple times before he was allowed to spar with Hazel, and he had follow up tests after. Frank rubbed his face where the final punch had knocked him out, and the memories came flooding back to him.

Frank remembered how fast and heavy Kahale's hits were. Frank felt like he was moving in quicksand, but Kahale just danced around like he was unaffected by gravity. There was nothing he could do as he was knocked to the mat, and his confidence tanked to the mat with him, crashing down through the crust and into the core of the earth.

Being knocked out left him confused for the next hour, and he kept getting this feeling of whiplash. His whole world had been swallowed by a black hole, and days later, he just couldn't get over it. This wasn't something that he could just snap out of. A frustrated sigh left Frank, and he hung his head again.

"Frank, look at me," Lupa said gently. It took Frank even longer to look up this time. "The first loss is always the hardest. I almost stopped fighting when I lost my first fight. I thought I wasn't good enough to take on anyone, but you have to keep moving forward."

"You will not be successful without failure. It is not how you win that matters but how you bounce back from your losses," Lupa continued. "Reyna was the same way as you when she first lost, quiet and sullen. Then, she got mad and blamed herself for everything that went wrong."

"Hazel lost her very first fight, but she didn't let it bring her down. She bounced right back and used the loss as a learning experience. Kahale is a very skilled fighter, and there is no shame in losing to him. It will be hard, but you must examine what you did wrong and figure out how to fix it," Lupa finished.

"Alright," Frank sighed and shook his head. "I just need time to think about who I want to fight. I'll let you guys know later."

Frank stood and walked towards the door. Lupa spoke, "Frank, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Frank lied as he looked back at Lupa. "Seriously."

Lupa nodded, but she didn't look convinced. Octavian spoke, "Can you send Reyna our way? We need to talk to her."

Frank nodded and walked out of the office. He made his way back towards the gym and tried to stop the bad mood boiling in his chest. Frank spotted Reyna talking to Annabeth. There was a frown on Reyna's face, and she was chewing her bottom lip. Annabeth had her face buried in her notebook.

Frank felt rage burning in his chest. This pure anger that Reyna was right. She was always right, wasn't she? Reyna called it from day one. Hell, day zero really. She told Frank that he wasn't able to handle the fight, and he tried to fight her. Frank convinced Octavian to send the fight confirmation to Kahale. He should have just listened to his teammate.

Why couldn't Reyna just believe in him, though? Frank wanted, needed, to know. He sighed angrily and walked up to the two fighters. Frank slowly tuned into their conversation.

"She dropped her phone in the toilet?" Reyna asked puzzled. She crossed her arms, and the fingers on her good hand tapped against her elbow.

"Right in the bowl," Annabeth confirmed, not looking up. "She was spiking up her hair and didn't wipe her hands because someone texted her. She was so surprised to see them apologizing that she grabbed her phone, and the gel caused it to fly out of her hands."

Frank just looked at the two of them, lost about their conversation. Annabeth gave Reyna a knowing look and then focused on Frank. A smile came to her face. Frank spoke, "Lupa wants to talk to Reyna."

"Did she say she would call back?" Reyna began. She didn't even seem to realize that Frank was there. "Or just stop by?"

"Why would she need to stop by?" Annabeth wondered with a coy smirk on her face. Reyna blushed and quickly looked away. Frank cleared his throat. "Reyna, Frank needs you."

Reyna finally seemed to notice Frank, and her gaze moved to him. Figures. Reyna didn't think he was worth the time anymore. He didn't listen to her, and he failed because of it. Now, Frank wasn't worth her time. Of course not.

"Lupa needs to see you," Frank muttered.

"Did she say why?" Reyna asked.

"Probably because you know everything," Frank grumbled. Annabeth's eyes widened from the sudden comment. Reyna's frown deepened, and a sigh escaped her lips. Frank turned around and started to walk away.

"Frank," Reyna called. Frank promptly ignored her and continued his stride. Where he was going, he didn't know. His mind wasn't focused enough to spar. Maybe, he would just let Annabeth throw him around. It wouldn't require any skill from him, so it was a great use of his talents. "Frank!"

A hand grabbed Frank's shoulder, and he felt his temper flare up. He turned and glared down at Reyna. She stared back up at him, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong," Frank snapped. "I'm just stating the obvious! You know everything. You're the best fighter here!"

"Frank, I already apologized," Reyna began.

"And, it doesn't change anything!" Frank yelled as he lost his temper. "Do you think that I really believed you?! After telling me to my face that I wasn't good enough and that I would fail, do you think I would believe it when you said that I could do it!?"

"You obviously apologized just to appease Lupa and the others! So there wouldn't be awkwardness in the air when we were in the same room. If you actually meant your apology, you wouldn't have taken so damn long to say it. You were just acting like you believed in me when you really didn't."

"Fra-"

"I saw you look away. You couldn't even watch the fight because you knew I was going to lose!" Frank finished yelling. He let out deep, angry breaths. Tears of anger began pouring from his eyes, and his cheeks shaded red from embarrassment. Frank did not lose his temper like that, yet here he was in the middle of the gym screaming his head off. He had caught the attention of everyone else in the gym, including Piper and Nico who were just walking by.

Frank stared down at Reyna and tried to read the emotions on her face. Reyna was clearly pissed, and her jaw was clenched. One of her hands flexed open and closed into a fist. Frank felt a hand gently touch his shoulder, but he brushed away the unwanted contact.

"I'm going home," Frank muttered to no one in particular. He turned and stormed out of the gym, not even bothering to change out of his gear. Frank just didn't care anymore. Reyna didn't believe in him and thought he was a loser. Hazel probably just kept him around for easy sparring practice. There was no way he could touch Annabeth.

Frank was just useless.

Absolutely useless.

And he would never be anything else.