SAFE . . . reyna ramirez-arellano

52 - crying screaming throwing up

BRIAR EVENTUALLY FELL asleep, but at what cost?

Her nightmares took her back to when she'd talked to her dad for the last time. Well, except for when she'd talked to him yesterday ( that was yesterday? ), but that didn't really count. Well, it did, but right now Briar didn't want to count it.

It'd been four months since Briar had refused to worship her mom. Refused to give into her dad's demands. Refused to give any more of herself to her mom.

He'd immediately disappeared after that afternoon. Briar didn't care. She was with Reyna now. She felt a happiness she hadn't felt in a long time. She'd gotten into the routine of doing nearly everything with her. Every quest, every war game, every meal, it all had to be with her.

And, one day, her dad came back. Someone told Briar that he was back, and she knew that she had to make him see reason.

So she'd stayed in their house — her childhood home, she supposed — waiting for him. Because she'd always wait for him. It was a full time job, at this point.

He'd walked in. They made eye contact.

Then? The house seemed to explode with their voices.

"I don't want to apologize for what I said," Briar said to him. "Because I'm right. How do you not see that, dad?"

"Get your ten years in the legion, Briar," her dad snapped, unpacking his treasures that he'd gotten during his four month quest. "Or become an adult. Then you'll grow up and realize that you aren't right all of the time."

"I inherited this from you!" Briar slapped the table in front of her with both her hands. "Maybe you should've learnt throughout all of your years that you've been alive, because I know that I'm right. Venus cares nothing for us."

"Don't ever say that," her dad's face twisted into anger. "Don't you dare blame her for the actions that I've caused!"

Cue screaming after that. They yelled at each other for so long, Briar wasn't even sure what  past her was saying until she heard, "Fine! If you don't want to be my dad anymore, that's fine with me."

"I don't want you to be my daughter anymore,"  her dad said.

"Fuck you," Briar said, then she stormed outside and slammed the door shut.

The words Briar's dad had said echoed in her brain, even if she didn't know what he was saying at the time. She remembered now, now that Hera had given her that memory back. And the things that her dad said to her — shit she didn't even want to remember — made her sick to her stomach.

She bolted up into a sitting position and turned to throw up in the trash can next to her bed just as someone opened the door.

Needless to say, she didn't care about finding Percy and Annabeth, who were apparently missing. She just laid in her bed and tried not to burst into tears. The crew left her alone, preoccupying themselves with finding the missing couple. Reyna didn't come in her room, though she didn't know why Reyna would, because of their fight from last night.

Briar stared up at her ceiling, trying to think of good things and not how her life was going to shit when her door opened again. She turned her head to see Frank peeking his head in.

"Hey, we found Percy and Annabeth," he said awkwardly. "Also, we're having a meeting in the mess hall, if you're up to it. I brought you some nectar, if you want it?"

"Thanks," Briar said quietly. "I don't need the nectar. I think if I have anything right now, I'll throw up again."

After five more minutes of staring at the ceiling and listening to the yelling outside her room, she rolled out of bed and changed into a giant pink crewneck with comfy shorts. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail and went to the mess hall.