𝙄𝙉𝙁𝙇𝘼𝙈𝙀𝘿; heroes of olympus

flaming fireballs

ERITH JAY
ERITH COULDN'T HELP it. As soon as they were flying away on Festus, she grabbed the jacket from her satchel, pulled it tightly around her shoulders, and sobbed.

She wasn't sure why she was so rattled, and she hated herself for crying. She didn't want to have a meltdown in front of Jason, Piper, and Leo; she hardly knew them and she didn't trust any of them. It was obvious they were all hiding something.

It felt like the world was crashing down on her shoulders. She hated the cold. She hated how close she had been to death in there, how useless. She hated how everyone seemed to love gorgeous Piper and all-so-powerful and handsome Jason, but how she was nothing, how she was just dragged around and useless.

She hated how Jason was Roman, and she hated how that was her responsibility now because he couldn't remember shit, and she hated how Piper was keeping secrets but how she wanted to like her anyway, and she hated Leo's stupid crush on Khione and she didn't know why and she shouldn't care and she shouldn't care about Jason's opinion on her or the way he glared at her like she was an alien, because this was his quest and she shouldn't be a part of it.

All this ran through her mind as she sobbed into the jacket. Finally, she took a shuddery breath and wiped her eyes. She couldn't cry. She didn't have time for crying. She was supposed to be strong, and brave, and... not pathetic.

Finally, she sat back up. The cold wind stung her face, but it felt good. Her short hair blew behind her.

She only then realized that Jason, Piper, and Leo had been quiet ever since they'd left.

"Gods," she muttered. She cleared her throat, which still felt clogged with tears. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, don't apologize," Piper said gently. "It's okay to cry."

Erith shook her head. "I'm fine. Really."

"That's a lie if I've ever heard one," Leo said.

"Shut up, Leo," Erith said tiredly. But there was no malice in her tone.

"Erith," she heard Jason say. She didn't want to turn. She didn't want him to see the red around her eyes, which was bound to be there.

Her shoulders tensed as he said, "I'm sorry."

"Why on Earth are you sorry? I should be the one apologizing," she replied.

"No," Jason said. "Not true. I've treated you like shit because I was supposed to lead this quest and I thought you were infringing on it. But that's not fair. You were just doing a favor for a friend. And you're valuable. In order for this quest to succeed, we need to work like a team.

"I'm not asking you to trust us, because gods know we don't even trust each other right now. But... give us a chance. I'll do better. You do better. We all do better. We have to, because from this point forward, things aren't looking too good for us, and they're going to be looking a lot worse if we're against each other."

Erith took a deep breath, the cold air filling her lungs. "You're right. You really should be a leader, you give great speeches."

Jason laughed, and the tension in the air seemed to ease. Erith's shoulders relaxed.

After a few quiet minutes, Erith heard Jason and Piper talking. She was too tired to listen to them over the wind. They could flirt, or whatever.