Chapter 22: Worst brother ever


[David's Pov]

The most annoying part of this situation was that I couldn't just say 'no' and shoo her words away no matter how much I wanted to.

As much as I doubted I ever had an unknown sibling, now that I realized who my father was it was just as possible that I might have a hidden relative running around in the woods.

Then again, this girl standing in front of me didn't have the 'Cabin 5' vibe way back at Camp Half-Blood.

…Ok, I didn't have much of those vibes either. But something just told me that she wasn't related to me by my godly parentage.

She had something to do with my past; specifically, when I was around the age of 10-which was also where everything was obscure.

The girl-Rose, was it?-let out an exasperated snort.

"I'd assume you're surprised."

"You can say that."

Rose wrinkled her nose as if every word I spoke was a huge insult. She waved her hand against the stone wall next to her, and a wooden door shimmered into existence.

"We'll talk inside if you don't mind."

"What if I do mind?"

Instead of answering, Rose clapped her hands together. The door swung open on its own, and she marched inside without sparing a backward glance.

Half of myself just wanted to bolt it down the corridor. As intriguing as this was, I didn't trust this girl one bit; how could she be my sister? Family members were something I'd typically forget, mostly because I didn't have anyone apart from Ma or machete his wife.

But the younger version of me was still standing in the way. He didn't look solid enough that I'd not be able to get through him, but his eyes were very foreboding.

"What are you?"

"An Opacusima."

"I have no idea what that is."

He rolled his eyes. Was I this cocky when I was this young?

…I…uh…

"Can't remember anything."

I looked down at him. My younger self nodded towards the open door. For whatever reason, he looked quite premiere almost as he came to terms with his upcoming death or something.

Either way, I passed the door.

On the other side of it was a small study. The wall was in deep purple while an outworn lamp dangled above, barely giving out enough lights for me to look where Rose was sitting on; a chair made out of blackthorn vines.

She took a small sip out of a silver teacup before nudging her chin towards another chair also made out of vines.

Surprisingly, it was quite comfortable.

"Care for a tea?" My younger self asked.

I declined his offer and leaned forward to face my 'sister' eye to eye.

"So, let's say I believe you. I've had three families my entire life up to this point, which one do you come from?"

"machete."

Well, damn. The one family where I can't recall most of it. Great. I can't even accuse her of lying.

Despite that, I couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for her. If she really had grown under the worst stepfather in the world with me, then there was no wonder she turned out to be evil.

…wait.

"I was adopted to his family."

Rose took another sip from his teacup, before raising her eyebrow.

"You were."

"And you were his actual daughter?"

"I was."

A giant boulder sank my throat. The few memories I've held on slowly crept back, most of them being about abuse in one way or another, but one particular imagery was the one that horrified me.

The day when I ran away from the house.

The day when I'd finally let loose, and- and-

"-did I?"

My voice barely worked, nothing better than a croak of a frog. But Rose nodded nonetheless.

"Yes. You did beat my parents to death with a beer bottle.

And yes, I did watch the whole thing."

"Don't worry; I don't hold any grudge for that. Even you'd remember that they were better off in the field of punishment than anywhere else."

That didn't make me feel better. My entire inside was churning like a washing machine-if I had eaten anything during last day, I would've thrown up right there at the spot.

I did it. I was a murderer. At the age of 10 at that.

What do I do? Do I have to turn myself in? Did the cops ever find out? What would ma even think-

"Oh, shush."

Rose clapped her hand once again, and a small breeze brushed across my face. My thoughts cleared; the raging emotion of panic died out, letting my body remember to start breathing.

"Wallow on your moral compass on your own time. I did not come all this way just to tell you that you got rid of those two sorry excuses of a person."

"You were the girl from my dream."

That must've caught her off guard. Rose's eyes widened out of surprise for the first time, then it quickly narrowed.

"What dream?"

"Right before we started on the quest-"

Oh right. I was on a quest, wasn't I?

"Well?"

"Where are the others?"

Rose sighed out loud and snapped both of her fingers in front of my eyes-

"You were saying something about your dream."

"I was saying something about my dream."

"Continue telling."

"I'll continue telling."

-whoa, what just happened?

Oh right. I was saying something about my dream.

I told her in detail about the nightmare; where at the end, a mysterious girl had appeared, softly crying and apologizing to me for an unknown reason. Also, I vaguely recalled making a promise with her-which was the reason why I lived under machete for 2 years whilst enduring all the abuse he dished out.

When I finished, Rose seemed quite elevated. Her lips were curled up into something of a smile, and even her eyes were softened up into an endearing fashion. If she had come up to me with this expression, I might've believed her from the start.

"That was you."

"Yes, it was." She reached out and took my hand. It was too cold, much colder than any human skin. My natural reflex tried to pull back, but Rose held onto my wrist tightly and muttered some words that I couldn't quite make up.

A warm, trickling sensation flowed in from the tips of her fingers.

As it did, a memory just as warm came to me.

"Happy birthday!"

I held up a small ice cream cake high into the air. I was younger-10, at best. I resembled my younger self that I saw, with the only difference being the huge bandage with red stains plastered on my forehead.

As I swung around the cake, young Rose clapped and laughed out loud in joy. I could tell it now. She had the same red eyes, only these were sparkling like stars, full of hope and excitement.

I was floating in mid-air watching the two kids scamper around the small room I despised so much. Neither I nor Rose made any indication that I existed.

"This- this is-"

"One of my fondest memory with you," Rose said. She was floating next to me. Her eyes sparkled as well, but it was more close to sadness than joy.

"I wonder who'd be the little birthday princess?"

"Meee!"

Her pronunciation was sloppy, even for someone her age. But that didn't bother them-us.

I pulled out two spoons from behind my back, handed the bigger one to Rose, and watched her start digging into the ice cream cake.

And then, the vision ended.

Rose, with a faint smile, let go of my hand.

"I never realized you gave me the bigger one."

My heart felt like molten lead.

"I-I'm sorry. I-I didn't-know, why I-"

I didn't know what to say. What could I even say to make it up to her?

There was no way that vision of memory was made up. She really was my sister. She wasn't lying about…anything. I had a sister, a family member to take care of all this time, and I had just…

…just, forgot.

"I don't know why I forgot. I really don't."

My head sagged down. Even as I said it, my shoulders sagged down at this horrible excuse; however true they might be, I doubt it would matter to someone left behind.

Rose let out a small sigh.

"Of course, you wouldn't."

I dared to look up, and she was staring back at me with a mixture of sympathy and disappointment.

"I know why you forgot what happened. Which is also a nice Segway to the real talk."

"What?"

Rose outstretched her hands and muttered some incomprehensible words under her breath. Various colored vapors arose and shaped themselves into two symbols. I recognized one of them: a boar with two swords across over its head. A symbol of Ares.

The other was something I'd never seen before. It had a looming dark cape in the background, while two torches stood idly on either side as if invisible hands were holding it aloft.

If I weren't a Greek Myth nerd, I would've had a lot more trouble finding out what that symbol represented. Nonetheless, a certain goddess came to my mind as soon as I saw the two burning torches.

"Hecate?"

"Correct. She is my mother.

And technically, she is also yours as well."

On the other hand, taking in that sentence took much more time.

"You mean, Hecate hooked up with machete."

Now, say what you will about Hecate; I didn't have a strong opinion on her, because she was one of the goddesses that were just 'there'.

She didn't do much to the point where her daughters were much better known, and even in the past she was mostly worshiped with day-to-day wishes and not 'Oh almighty gods please don't let everyone starve or get violently get murdered.'

But if she actually did end up having children with someone like him, I can say for a certain that she had horrible taste in men. That aspect was undeniably comical, but the expression on Rose's face managed to calm me down.

"Technically yes, but it's a different story than you'd think. And it's not something you'll enjoy either."

She glared at the two torches before starting her story.

And, indeed, it was an entirely different story.

And I didn't enjoy one bit of it.

"Hecate is a goddess of many things, but she is mostly known for sorcery and choices. And as a goddess of choices, the entire concept of giving birth to a child was not acceptable."

"Pardon?"

"Think about it; when you are born, you can't choose who your parents are, and parents can't choose who they have a child."

"I…ok."

That was a very weird way to view the situation, but then again this was Greek Gods we're talking about. I've seen much weirder ideas they've come up with in the myths alone.

"So, she had a brilliant idea-" Rose glared down at the symbol again. "-of making her…'clones' and sending them up into the earth."

"Clones?"

"100% mortal, but they aren't disconnected from Hecate as well. They are sent all over the world for centuries, most of them got a child, and when the time sees fit she shows herself in front of her 'child' to offer them a choice.

They can accept her as a mother and truly become her child.

Or, you can forget the entire history behind your true background."

Rose leaned back into her thorn chair. That was the end of her story, but it took me much more time to process it through my brain. I would've had a much easier time if the implications of the story weren't so horrific.

"…So, you're saying that machete's wife was one of the clones."

Rose nodded. But that was not what she wanted to hear, which in turn cemented the terrifying idea.

When she said she and I were siblings, she wasn't just indicating the fact that we shared the same parent at some point.

We also shared the same godly parent-sort of.

"Y, you mean, my mother is-"

"Also a clone of Hecate. Yes."

I let that sink in.

It didn't. Before I knew it, I was springing up to my feet.

"That can't be true."

Rose, albeit with a sympathetic expression, shook her head.

"No, David. As hard as it is to swallow that pill, it is true. That is why you forgot-"

"But that can't!"

I slammed my fist onto the table between us, making her flinch in her spot. A part of me reminded myself that she was still a victim of abuse; even more, traumatized than myself, but I didn't care at the moment.

I couldn't care about anything else.

I remembered my mother clearly than anything else in the world; every comforting word she said, the smell of her home-cooked meal, her warm embrace, everything. Those were memories that nobody could take away. Not machete, or Hecate, or anyone else.

No one can take my ma away from me. I won't allow it.

"I don't believe you. Just on that part, I don't."

Rose was trying her best to hide her alarm, but now she reminded me of a scared chipmunk hiding in a tall branch.

I slumped back down onto the chair.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lash out at you. It's just…don't say that with my mom. Ever."

"…"

She only nodded, still very much cowering.

Great job, David.

Not only did you somehow forget you have a step-sister, now you've managed to remind her of her abusive dad that you've beaten to death in front of her eyes by acting exactly like him.

What a wonderful brother you are. I hope you end up in hell, or, Tartarus. Whatever.

Among those cheering thoughts, I noted that my younger self was nowhere to be seen. I guess he left for us to have a private conversation. I still didn't understand where did he come from, but I wasn't in the mood to ask.

After a long uncomfortable pause, Rose spoke again.

"…Either way, that'll bring us to the real talk."

She extended her hand forward. I waited, expecting some other spell to happen. Then I realized she was asking me to take her hand, which I hesitantly obliged.

"Join us, David."

Us?

I looked around, but there was no one else apart from us.

"Join who?"

"The Titans."

She said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, but to me, that was the second most surprising thing I've ever heard in this conversation.

"The Titans…as in the beings before the gods? Like Kronos?"

"And Atlas, Hyperion-"

"Yes."

"-Krios, Koios, Prometheus-"

"Yes, that's enough."

"Right."

I was taken aback by the fact that Titans existed.

I mean, Atlas was also a Titan but he had his fair share of appearances in the Greek Myths. The rest of the Titans were nothing more than background characters. Apart from a handful that took the god's side, the entire Titan race was thrown into Tartarus to never come back.

At the same time, however, that reminded me of the chilling voice from the pits of Tartarus. Just remembering it made my spine shiver.

"They-aren't they evil?"

"The gods would say that, yes. But look around, David. Think about what you've seen during this quest; of this palace."

Rose pointed out of the window, where I could still see a bunch of statues littering the market of Thebe. I wonder if any of those people would've trusted the gods if they knew their outcome.

She squeezed my hand tightly.

"The gods are the bane of this earth. They've been ruling ever since humans became a species, and all that time, we're nothing more than an amusement to them.

Demigods are no exception, David. You know the stories about heroes. How their lives had been tossed here and there by gods."

The more I thought about it, the more it made sense.

I was currently sitting in a castle of a dead city, which was dead only because the queen had challenged the gods once.

I thought of the story with the bear twins, Polyphonte was a victim of two goddesses squabbling over each other.

Back at camp, at cabin 12 with all those unclaimed children; or gods forbid, the children deemed unimportant just because their parents didn't have a throne up at Olympus.

"Soon, there will be a war. A second Titanomachia."

"A war between the Titans and the gods."

This was the war. This was what was Argus said back at the exhibition.

The voice from Tartarus came back to my mind.

"I can sense your lack of faith in the gods. Do you really think that pesky goddess deserves to be saved?"

Only, it was much less jagged than I remembered. It was more…concerned, reasoning.

If I pressed on the quest, no doubt it would lead to much more danger; and for what? To save a goddess that was more or less the cause of most atrocities that came across this quest?

What if the gods were truly not fit for the rule?

What if-

A sudden noise cut through my train of thoughts. It still took me more than a second to realize what the noise was: a scream.

And with less than a heartbeat, I deducted whose scream it was.

"Zoë."

I let go of Rose's hand and stood up. She grasped onto my wrist and tried her best to pull me back.

"Rose, I have to go."

"No, you don't."

I looked back at her. Now she had both her hands on my wrist, trying her best to pull me back. But all in all physical strength is not where she excelled at.

I could've just thrust her away. Except for her next words.

"You left me once. If you walk away now, you're doing it for the second, and last time."

"…"

My arms went slack.

I know, this was blackmail. The small, feeble rational part of my brain acknowledged it.

But it wasn't a lie either. I won't believe my mother was a creation of a goddess who couldn't be bothered to get laid on her own, but regarding that-I did leave her back when I ran away.

I…can't do that. Not again.

When I did not indicate to run away, Rose gave a big smile just as pure as I remembered-

And then I sank below to the ground.

Sudden darkness enveloped my vision in mere seconds, as Rose screamed out in confusion and anger before…

"You are the worst I've ever seen."

A younger myself was looking down upon me. He was half my size, but he felt much taller than I did at the moment.

"Where am I? What is this place?"

He waved his hand to the side.

"Not important. What you need to do is get your friend out of here."

He was right. I had to get a grip on myself.

I had no idea where Percy or Annabeth was, and if something made Zoë scream like that it must be something much more terrible than anyone can give credit for.

"Who-what are you?"

He gave off a small smile.

"I am David without a future. You are David without a past.

Most of the memories you've lost are long gone by the streams of Lethe. However, the most important-the core was salvaged because a young girl needed her brother."

He pointed upwards. The ceiling-if you can call it that-was trembling slightly as if someone was pounding on the door with a battering ram.

My younger self looked at the crumbling ceiling with a slight concern. Though I could tell he wasn't worried about getting a break-in. I certainly wasn't.

"You need to go now. Don't worry about Annabeth and her boyfriend, they already took their ticket out."

"Wait, what-"

Before I could even finish my question on that shocking note, he waved his hand.

When I opened my eyes, I was back inside the castle. Rose was nowhere to be seen.

There was a huge door standing at the end of the corridor, from where a cackling voice shouted in glee.

"And now, after all this time, your beloved goddess will pay for her actions!"


You know, writing down what I want to write really helps you get your ideas straight before actually writing.

Wish I knew that sooner, but better late than never I guess.

Also awkward reunion is awkward.