Ichuckle slightly.Ares, we all know you died for a couple of seconds, right? Dad felt that, remember?I say through the mind-link, but his face doesn’t change.
“Yeah, but was I supposed to stay like that? Maybe my heart didn’t fucking start up by itself. Fuck it, Theo! Answer me!” he snarls, no longer bothering to keep his voice down through the link.
“Does it matter what happened? You’re here, you’re fucking breathing. You’re still you! So, drop it, man!”
He looks at me.
“So, you’re the reason I’m here, right?”
“Fuck off!” I growl warningly.
“ANSWER ME!” he snarls.
“Fine, yeah, I fucking am! Happy now? Fucking, wanker.” My eyes blaze as I glare at him.
Even though he already knew it, the confirmation has shaken him. He lets go of me and steps back, his face pale as he stares at me. “Why? Why didn’t you tell me? Or fucking anyone for that matter!”
“By telling you, what difference would it have made?” I ask quietly.
“It would have to me!” he shouts, turning and punching the bag with all his might before he turns back to me, his heart thundering.
I scoff before I begin unwrapping my bandages. This fight is over.
“Answer me,” Ares says quietly, his voice trembling as he tries to control his anger. “I’m fucking waiting, Theo.”
“What man, by telling you, what would have happened? I made the decision to save you. I’m the one who made the deal. It has nothing to do with you. I paid the price, and it was no fucking big deal.”
“I owe you my life, and it’s no fucking big deal?!”
“That attitude and mentality are why I didn’t say shit. I don’t need you banging on about it being a fucking debt. I made that deal cause you’re my fucking dickhead of a bro, and I selfishly didn’t want to lose you, alright? This ain’t got nothing to do with you. You owe me nothing!” I snarl.
He’s silent, both of us glaring at one another, our eyes blazing before he looks down at his hands. Blood stains the tips of his fingers from where his nails had accidentally cut into my neck.
“So, I was killed… and you made a deal with Hades to bring me back… Who would have killed me?”
“You don’t fucking remember the one thing you actually needed to, man, that’s useless shit.”
“It’s a blank. Do you have any idea why I don’t remember? Does it have to do with you bringing me back?” he asks me. He’s a smart wanker, I’ll give him that.
I walk over to one of the weight-lifting benches and sit down. “Hades said something about keeping the balance. You were supposed to croak out. And if you did, what you saw would have gone with you. So yeah, he did that, but obviously he didn’t do a good enough job, since you remember this shit,” I remark.
Ares walks over to me. “Thank you,” he says quietly.
I look up at him, surprised. “Bro, did you just thank me?”
“Don’t let it get to your head,” he growls. “But I’ll repay-”
“No.” I cut him off sharply. “There’s nothing to repay. I did what I did because you’re my brother, man. You owe me nothing. If I ever need saving, do it because you want to, not because you owe me. We’re brothers, init.”
He’s quiet before his hazel eyes meet mine. “What happened to us?”
A question I asked myself a thousand times… I shake my head. “I’ve wondered the same thing. We fought a lot as kids, but we’d forget all about it within the hour. We had our rooftop space, and slowly, we all stopped hanging out there, too. Guess we all are just trying to work out what our own path is.” But I held on, I remained there. Held onto the traditions that we oncemade because it’s all I have.
Maybe they think we’ll reunite in the afterlife… that in the end we’ll be together again. But I won’t. Maybe I just want to make this temporary life count, hold on and make up for the time I’ll never have.
I look down at my raw knuckles that are already healing, the emotions I’m so fucking good at hiding threatening to show themselves.
“And I led us down that path,” he says. I look up at Ares, seeing regret in his eyes.
