Thea

“Seriously, Thea, if you’re so bored, then why don’t you go find something to do,” Leila complained about my complaining, and I rolled over onto my stomach so I could see her. I was lying on the couch in her new ship while she went over the final checks with Sami and Suriel.

Ithnaa was busy dealing with pirate war stuff, and Softie and I were getting on her nerves. So she sent me here to separate the two of us, but there wasn’t really anything for me to do. Leila and Suriel were back to being way stronger than me, and anything Sami needed help with just made me feel dumb. Besides, they were basically done with the repairs, anyway.

“That’s just it. You guys have already done everything. There’s nothing left for me to do,” I complained some more.

“What if you and I went to a bar?” Suriel asked, and I perked up, but then deflated again when Sami shook her head.

“I need you for these last checks. If something goes wrong, it could damage your core, and I won’t know it’s happening unless you’re there to tell me.”

“Sorry, Thea,” Suriel apologized before looking at Leila expectantly.

“Absolutely not. I had enough of babysitting Thea while we were in Elysia, and before you say anything, I don’t take orders from you anymore. So, you can’t make me do it.”

“Are you serious? I’m over four hundred years old. I don’t need a babysitter!” I protested, but Leila just scoffed and Suriel gave me a concerned look.

“We’re not saying you need a babysitter, just that you’re going through a lot right now, and we don’t want you to feel alone.”

“I’m fine, okay? I don’t feel alone, and even if I did, I can handle being by myself for a while,” I declared as I pushed myself off the couch a little too quickly and maybe stumbled a bit, but that in no way undermined how dramatic the gesture was. “In fact, I’m going to go find somewhere to be by myself right now.”

“Thea, wait,” Suriel called after me, but I ignored him as I stomped out of the room. Unfortunately, him being stronger than me again included being faster. So, he caught up before I could even leave the ship. “Seriously, Thea, just listen to me for a second, okay?”

I spun on him with an angry glare that he probably didn’t entirely deserve. “Fine. One second, but that’s it and I’m counting.”

He didn’t say anything for at least a full second. So, I turned to walk away, but he reached out and grabbed my arm to stop me. “Look, we’re just worried about you, and none of us were really there for you after you fell, but we’re here now. Please, let us help.”

“No.” Suriel stared back at me, dumbfounded, so I continued to go off on him. “You just said it yourself. None of you were there for me when I fell. Hells, you were living in Hades after dad died and I didn’t even find out about it until Taz told me. Even then, you didn’t come visit until I got him to ask you to do it. So, no, you don’t get to pretend to care about me while you and Leila are in the middle of leaving me again.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t even think—”

“Of course, you didn’t think of me,” I interrupted him before he could make more excuses. “I’m just a pest that needs to be managed. ‘Little Salinthea’ who can’t do anything on her own. Fucking let go of me!” I pulled my arm away and he finally let go.

“Thea, that’s not fair, and you know it.”

It wasn’t fair, and I did know it, but I was just too damn tired to care. “What wasn’t fair was you abandoning me when I needed you the most, but it’s fine. I’m fine. I don’t need you anymore. So, you can take your fancy new ship and fly off into the sunset guilt free.”

“Thea, that’s—”

“Goodbye, Suriel. Tell Ash I said hi, and let Leila know she’ll never have to ‘babysit’ me again.” I ignored his response as I stomped away, and this time, he didn’t chase after me.

~~~~~

“Here you go, Thea. Are you sure I can’t at least get you a glass?” Les, the bartender at Electric Zen, asked as she pulled the cork from the bottle of whiskey and sat it down on the bartop. I was sitting in one of only two empty spots in the entire bar.

Apparently, there were rumors going around that my ‘confrontation’ with Anali had happened because she asked if she could sit near me. Now nobody was willing to sit in ‘the devil's spot’, even if it meant they had to stand in the back of the room.

I might have laughed a bit menacingly when Les explained that part to me, because a couple of people who were loitering nearby took a few cautious steps back.

“Nah, it’s okay. A glass would only get in my way.” I brought the bottle to my lips, but realized something just before I took a drink. “Hey, do you know if Zen is around? I’m pretty sure I still owe him a few credits from the cleanup.”

“Yeah, he’s upstairs. I can let him know you’re here if you’d like,” Les explained. “I’m pretty sure he won’t make you wait long after last time.”

“Right. Sorry about that, I might have a few anger issues when it comes to defending my friends. I’m trying to get better about it.”

“Hey, you don’t have to apologize to me,” she said with a smile. “I got the day off with paid overtime and I wasn’t even there.” Les’s smile disappeared and her tone got a bit grave as she continued. “But if you see Morgan around, maybe buy her a drink or something. She won’t admit it, but you definitely scared her.”

I cringed as I felt my heart break just the slightest bit more. Morgan, Leslie’s twin, or clone I guess, had been working at the bar when Anali just strode up next to me. I hadn’t meant to scare her, but I also hadn’t exactly been in my right mind at the time. “Damnit. Do you know when her next shift is? I definitely need to apologize to her.”

“Tomorrow morning around noon. Bring flowers. She likes roses,” she explained with a smile.

I narrowed my eyes at the dark-haired human, and her smile only widened. “Hey, Les, I should probably let you know that I’m one of Inim’s kids. Which means I can tell when people are lying.”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“What? Seriously? That’s no fun.” Her smiled turned to shock, and then pouting. “Fine. Mor hates flowers, but in my defense, once you told her why you brought them, she would have just laughed with you.”

“Maybe, but at least now I can look like the hero by saving her from your prank,” I countered before taking a smug swig from the whiskey bottle.

She stuck her tongue out at me, and I returned the gesture, but her expression switched to confusion as she looked past me. “Who’s that? I don’t recognize her.”

I turned around in my seat to see the last person I ever expected walking through the door, and my mood took a nosedive. “That’s my sister.”

“Oh.” Les gave me a wary look as she glanced between me and Leila. “She’s not going to be a problem, is she?”

“Not for you,” I grumped as I spun back around in my chair to face the bar.

“If there’s going to be a fight, then do me a favor and take it outside, okay? I can tell Zen that you came by to pay, but had to leave early. I promise he won’t hold it against you.”

“It’ll be fine. There’s not going to be a fight,” I said with way more confidence than I actually felt. Les definitely didn’t look convinced, but Leila had already found her way to me before she could object.

“Thea, do you mind if I sit with you for a while?”

“Do what you want. It’s not my bar, I’m just paying for it.”

Les snorted at my joke, but then sheepishly apologized before backing away to give us whatever privacy sitting in the middle of a crowded bar allowed.

Leila ignored the interruption to pull the chair out and sit beside me. “Look, I fucked up. I shouldn’t have said what I did, and I’m sorry.”

I scoffed at her. “Don’t you dare apologize for saying what you meant and don’t even pretend like you didn’t mean every word that you said.”

“I won’t, because we both know that would be pointless, but I can honestly say that I regret the way I said it.”

“Leila, why are you here? Hells, how did you even know where I was?”

She let out a resigned sigh before looking up at Les, who was still obviously listening in. “Any chance I could get something to drink? Like literally anything?”

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Les stepped forward and reached under the counter to pull out some sort of canned wine. “Here you go. I think you’ll like that one.”

“Thanks.” Leila pulled the tab to open it, then took a drink before finally answering my question. “I knew where you were because Ithnaa told me, and I’m here because Samira activated the ship’s self destruct the moment you left, then told Suriel he had three minutes to pull his core as she walked away.”

I coughed and nearly spat whiskey all over the bartop. “Seriously? Sami blew up your ship?”

Leila shook her head, but took another drink from her can before explaining. “Suriel managed to talk her out of it with a few seconds to spare, but she only paused the countdown until she had a chance to hear from you.”

“So, the fate of your fancy new ship is in my hands, huh? You must hate that, don’t you?” I asked with a smile, and she nodded.

“Yeah, it is, and yeah, I’m not happy about it. But as much as I hate to admit it, the young kitsune had a point.”

“And what might that be?” I asked, loving the moment a little too much.

“That I’ve been an ungrateful bitch. Especially towards you.” I was about to agree, but she kept going before I could. “You let us live when it would have been safer just to kill us, and on top of that, you snuck us out of Tartarus when you definitely should have left us there. Then, even more recently, you asked your friends to help when you could have just called Ashaiya and left us stranded for what probably would have been months waiting for her. Hells, Samira made it perfectly clear that the only reason she was helping us with the ship was because she thought you wanted her to.”

“I never would’ve left you in Tartarus, and I definitely wouldn’t have killed you just because I thought it was safer.” I looked at her in disbelief, but she shook her head.

“That’s what you’re not getting. I would have. Falling changed me, Thea. Even more than it did Suriel and way more than Aurora. Hells, she’s basically just the same person.”

“She’s happier,” I pointed out, which made Leila chuckle darkly.

“Yeah, she is, which makes me furious, and I don’t understand why. I should be happy for her, but instead I hate that she’s not struggling with this nearly as much as I am.”

“It’s because you were closer to dad,” I explained, but she shook her head.

“Then why isn’t Suriel worse? He was closer than I was.”

“You’re joking, right? Suriel is way worse, just in a different way. I mean, could you imagine what would have happened if I had yelled at him the way I did earlier before he fell?”

“No,” Leila laughed. “Because nobody ever would have.”

“I’m sure somebody did. They just probably didn’t survive to tell anybody about it.” I smiled as I waved down Les. “I don’t suppose I could get a glass, please? This is too good to drink straight from the bottle.”

“Of course.” She quickly made her way over and pulled a glass out from underneath the bar, then sat it down in front of me. “Here you go, Thea. Oh, and Zen is in a meeting right now, but should be ready to see you in about twenty minutes.”

“Thanks, and yeah, that works. I’ll be around.”

Leslie went back to tending the bar, and Leila continued where our conversation left off. “Okay, I’ll admit maybe Suriel has changed more, but it still doesn’t seem fair to me. I mean, at least he can exist without pissing off everyone around him.”

“For what it’s worth, it gets better. You just need to spend some time figuring out who you are without dad’s afterlife controlling half your personality.”

“How’d you do it?” Leila asked as she continued to sip at her can of wine.

“I found a very patient succubus. Trust me, however bad you are now, I was so much worse. Sure, the personality shift didn’t hit me as hard, but I was just a kid when I fell, and to top it all off, I was stuck in the lower planes with nobody to turn to. If Es hadn’t found me when he did, then I would’ve ended up dead in a gutter somewhere before the end of the first month.”

“He’s really sticking with that name, huh?” Leila asked with a smirk, and I let out a pained groan.

“Yes! He shot down all of my suggestions without even considering them, then his dad took him back to Hades before I had time to wear him down. It’s so unfair.”

“Well, I’m sure he’ll come around eventually.” She stood up from the bar before giving me a pleading look. “Speaking of coming around, you seemed to have mostly calmed down. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to talk some sense into Samira now?”

“I don’t know… I mean, you still haven’t apologized to me.”

“Fine. You’re right. I’m sorry for overreacting. It was cruel of me and I promise to be more aware of it in the future.”

“Alright, good enough. I’ve got to hang around here until I can meet with Zen, but I’ll send Sami a message asking her not to blow up your ship, just be careful around her from now on. Sami doesn’t forget these kinds of things, and that girl has a not-so-secret dark side.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Leila let out a relieved breath before smiling at me. “And thanks. Both for the advice, and for not turning me away the second I walked through the door.”

I waved her off. “Don’t mention it, and definitely don’t get used to it, because next time something like this happens, I’m just going to buy a cigar and use the burning wreckage of your ship to light it.”

“I'll keep that in mind. Goodbye, Thea, and I’ll see you around, okay?”

“Yeah, see you around.” She left, and I turned back towards the bar to see Les impatiently waiting nearby. She rushed over once it was clear that Leila was gone.

“So, how’d it go? It looked like it went well. At least your mood definitely seems to have improved.”

“Yeah, it went well, and my mood has definitely improved. In fact, it’s probably the best it’s been in a while. I doubt it could get much—” A blinding flash of green light interrupted my conversation, and I fell on my ass as the chair disappeared out from underneath me. “Fucking seriously? Again? Who is it this…”

My heart stopped, and I might have forgotten how to breathe as I recognized the most beautiful woman in existence standing there fully alive with a smug smile. “Sorry, I know you don’t like being summoned without warning, but I didn’t want to wait to see you, and I figured you’d be willing to make an exception this one time.”