Chapter Text
𝘍𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘢, 𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘎𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴,
𝘚𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘑𝘶𝘭𝘺 13𝘵𝘩, 2026
‘𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦?’ Briseis thought to herself as she stared at the sight before her, it was a beautiful day. Sunny and bright out, though, for Briseis it couldn’t be worse. The house glaring down at her was simply massive, ‘𝘙𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦?’ She thought with contempt, the place had a nice garden with blooming flowers, budding with greens and blues and pinks! A gleaming pool, and a bunch of other things she honestly couldn’t bring herself to appreciate. The American Dream, one would call it. But for Briseis, it was a total nightmare. She felt she didn’t belong here at all! And to be honest? She didn’t. Before all of this, Briseis was as happy as a teenager in rural Georgia. She had a family, people she loved–people who adored her, now she was all alone. It all started like this,
𝘎𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘢, 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦,
𝘚𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘦 29, 2026
“Briseis! Grab your bag and let’s go honey!” Her father, Briseus, called from outside what used to be her home, a small but modest home in Cartersville. A home she shared with her family, all her closest people. Though, that day would be the worst day Briseis would experience in her years of living. She ran from her room with her bag, hopping on one foot to put on her shoe, everyone was already in the car waiting.
That day was her father’s graduation ceremony for his PHD, everyone was excited! Her father had been doing this for six years, and the ceremony would be at the Ocean Banks Center, she finally went outside, locking the door with her spare key and running up to their truck. She hopped in sitting next to her younger brother, Alkimos, who whined and cried till she gave him her phone, “Bri! Please? I’m bored!” So he could play some mobile game she didn’t care about. Afterall, she had her Ipod and her Kindle. Percy Jackson was the best for her, I mean seriously, how could she resist the allure of Percy?
The truck was a bit stuffy and loaded, but it had been hers. Her mother, Laothoe, started to move out of the driveway, soon enough they were on the road. The ride was a little bumpy that day, it made Briseis a little sick with all the jutting movements. But she could manage. Looking back on it, Briseis wished she would’ve just told her parents she felt sick, maybe they would’ve stopped by a CVS to get her some Tums, or turned back home. Anything to prevent it.
But she hadn’t. What happened next still sickens her to her stomach, her mother drove past the green light, and then it hit.
𝙎𝙆𝙍𝙀𝙀𝙀𝘾𝙃—𝘾𝙍𝘼𝙎𝙃!
Glass broke, and the world flipped sideways.
It slammed right into her car and sent them flying, Briseis felt someone grab onto her, her older brother, Dymas. Briseis on instinct held onto him too, she noticed Ianthe, her older sister, who grabbed onto Alkimos, who was shrieking, Ianthe’s shouting, and everything was spinning. Gods. The next event ..Briseis can’t recall clearly as she blacked out straight after.
She woke in the truck, and then she felt it, pain—sharp, angry pain piercing her skin.
Her body felt wrong, wet. Spreading all across her body, her limbs felt like slime. She started to cry, she could feel herself bleeding, and the glass shards pricking her skin in all kinds of places. She hadn’t realized her eyes were closed till she lazily opened them to meet a corpse. Shocked, yet unmistakebly dead brown eyes stared into her own, ‘𝘋𝘺𝘮𝘢𝘴’ she hadn’t realized she’d cried her brother’s name out loud, “Dymas!” Her throat burned, but she just couldn’t stop screaming, all around Briseis were the corpses of her family. The car was flipped upside down and so was she. She wailed, barely mustering up the strength to wrap her cut arms around his cold, lifeless body, he couldn’t hear her. But then she heard it, “Bri..seis..” a weak voice, but she knew it.
Her little brother, Alkimos..he was still alive, for a moment, she’d felt hopeful, she wriggled in her seat, trying to reach him with a whine. “Alkimos,” her throat burned again, but she persisted. She couldn’t get out—she couldn’t get to him. She stared at him, he looked ..horrible– if she didn’t get to him, he’d be dead. But she just..couldn’t move! No matter how much she pushed, her body had already given up. “Alkimos! Alkimos! Just– just stay awake! I’m com-c..coming! Don’t worry!” She yelled despite herself, but he already doubled over himself, stiff and limp. He went just like that. Alkimos was dead.
𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥. ‘𝘕𝘰. 𝘕𝘰..𝘯𝘰…𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘰! 𝘕𝘰! 𝙉𝙊!’
Briseis could’ve saved him, but she couldn’t. Because he was dead, like everyone else in this car but her.
The paramedics reached her soon enough, Briseis felt like she was going to pass out again, but before she did. She got a glimpse of someone, lucious blonde hair and a pretty face staring at the wreckage, she twitched before everything went black.
𝘍𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘢, 𝘚𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘑𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘏𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭,
𝘑𝘶𝘭𝘺 3𝘳𝘥 2019
Briseis woke up with a gasp, touching the area around her. A bed? The last time she was awake, she’d been in a car filled..with her dead family. She looked around, taking in the sterile smell of medicine, the beep of the monitors and what not, squinting as the light pierced her eyes, a whimper exited her mouth and she blocked her eyes, so she was in a hospital. ‘𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵?’ She thought bitterly.
But then her eyes landed on someone next to her. The blonde. Was he not striking..? Annoyingly so.
—-----------------
Achilles Peleides was not used to feeling guilty, not like this.
Three days ago, he’d stupidly been teaching his younger brother, Neoptolemus, how to drive. Why? You might ask, is a sixteen year old teaching a thirteen year old to drive rather than an adult? Well, that was simply because of his mother, Thetis Olympias.
Neo wanted to be a Formula One Driver, Thetis wanted to encourage his dreams, so she ordered Achilles to teach him how to drive. Why him? Because she was too ‘busy’ and never home– and his shitty teaching paired with Neo’s even shittier driving skills totaled someone’s car!
And it went how anyone with sense expected it would go.
𝘛𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘺!
Neo and he had killed like..five people. Except for one, the youngest daughter, Briseis Briesides.
After the crash, she’d fallen into a coma for three days. Despite the fact they’d basically murdered her family and put her into a coma, the court ruled it as an ‘accident’ and they got two days of community service , a punishment that Neo didn’t even go to. Achilles did though, especially because his friends encouraged him to.
His mother warned him against going to visit her in the hospital, and urged him to focus on bigger things. Like his future. His girlfriend, Deidameia.
He ignored her texts consisting of constant spamming everyday, for example,
‘𝘏𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘺, 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘶 𝘹𝘹, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘴𝘴??🩷’ 1 : 29 𝘗𝘔
‘𝘈𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥? 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵𝘺! 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶’ 2 : 30 𝘈𝘔
‘𝘈𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘴?’ 3 : 00 𝘈𝘔
𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘈𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘈𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘈𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘈𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘴!Not that he didn’t like attention, he loved it! But when it came from her, it got quite annoying since he was trying to be a decent person and she just didn’t care about his tremendous efforts.
Achilles couldn’t care less, he felt really bad about it. But now she was awake. Her deep, chocolatey brown eyes staring into his own eyes. He was much too shocked to call the nurse so he just stared for a bit before coming to his senses. “You’re awake. How are you feeling?” Achilles asked, he kept himself leveled, he wouldn’t let his guilt make him falter.
She was looking around the room in confusion, but spoke, “are we in a hospital?” Her voice was rough and scratchy. He nodded quickly. “Yea, St. James Hospital, are you feeling okay? I gotta call the doctor, don’t I?” Before Achilles could, she stopped him, grabbing his wrist. Fair enough.
“Don’t. Just..don’t, I don’t wanna deal with that right now.” She sighed, and leaned back on the stretcher.
“So, you remember?” Achilles mumbled, looking at her, he wasn’t going to shy away. He was guilty but he was Achilles! She turned her head slightly to him, and nodded. “Mhm. They’re..really dead.” She said quietly. It was silent for a long time before he stood up, “hey– listen, I’m sorry. I really am.” She looked at him confused at what he meant. “What are you even talking about? Hey– who even are you, and why are you in my hospital room?” She sat up quickly, letting out a tiny wince.
“Don’t do that, just..okay, nothing. Nevermind,” Achilles didn’t have to tell her, did he? It would make this entire process harder, since he’d managed to convince his mother to take her in..since her family was dead, and there was no next of kin for her.
So he didn’t tell her. “I’m sorry because the ..person who hit you got away, unfortunately. The police are searching for them, but I think it’s a lost case.” He said solemnly, pressing a hand to his heart.
She looked at the hospital gown, and suddenly broke down in tears. Before he could say anything, she had already placed her arm on her eyes, furiously wiping at her eyes. “Okay. I understand.” She nodded quickly. “I..understand.” Her voice was shaky. She was barely holding up.
“S-since..you have no next of kin, the reason why I’m here is to tell you, you’ve legally been adopted by my family.” He said slowly, she stared up at him before yelling, “what?! What are you talking about I–”
“My mother felt really bad after seeing the crash,” a lie, no she didn’t, “so she decided to legally adopt you and you’ll be moving to Florida soon with us, your stuff is already packed and being sent to our home and we’ve already buried your family and you can visit them after you’re discharged!” He blurted out.
And let out a loud sigh after talking for so long.
And then he promptly ran out.
—---------
𝘍𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘢, 𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘎𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴,
𝘚𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘑𝘶𝘭𝘺 13𝘵𝘩, 2026
And that’s how she got here. To this massive fuck of a massion literally no one needed. She spotted an old man with a graying beard standing at the gate. Hands behind his back like some butler. When she walked over he smiled lightly, he had a lined face..though, one of his had a milky, clouded tint to it. Briseis decided not to comment on it, that’d be rude. “Evening, child. You must be Briseis, yes? I’m Phoenix.” He introduced himself, she nodded. ‘𝘗𝘩𝘰𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘹, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦.’ She thought.
He took that to note and spotted her bag, “if you’d like I could carry your bags.” He offered, even so Briseis rejected the offer however, “it’s not that much to carry, just a few things I have.”
Her bag was some worn out Kipling bag her parents had gotten her last school year, now the bag and her belongings were the only things she could take for nostalgia without bursting out into tears.
It was just a few things, some of her drug-store make up, perfumes, books, hygiene products, a few snacks and some clothes. He hummed, “well, I shall show you to your room here.” Briseis had to catch up with him, for an old man he sure was a fast walker.
She gazed around the house, even from the inside it was nothing short of luxurious. Crystal chandeliers, expensive furniture and art, and an entire aura that just screamed‘𝘸𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵, 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭’. Soon enough he reached a room, opening the door for her.
‘𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴.' She stared around the room, running inside and looking around. The closet was bigger than her old room. It wasn’t too furnished, but it had a big, comfy looking bed in the center. And a bathroom in her own room!
But then again, what was better than bickering with your siblings on who would get to shower first before school? Briseis suddenly saddened. It couldn’t stop coming to her mind for once that her entire fucking family was dead? Just for one day?
“If you’d like, young lady, we could go shopping for some furniture for your room,” Phoenix said gently from behind her. Briseis jumped, her heart lurching. She’d completely forgotten he was still there.
“Yeah—that’d be nice—wait,” she paused, panic flashing across her face. “I can’t afford furniture!” The words came out faster than she meant. Her stomach twisted. Were they expecting her to pay for everything? She had nothing. No money, no family—nothing. Before Phoenix could respond, someone stepped into the doorway. The blonde. Her eyes snapped to him immediately. Of course he was here. “I can afford it,” he said simply.
He looked like he’d just come from practice—compression shirt clinging to him, joggers low on his hips, a faint sheen of sweat catching the light. Clean sneakers, Jordans! Effortless. Briseis looked away a second too late.
“Welcome back, Achilles,” Phoenix greeted, a small smile forming. “So your name’s Achilles?” Briseis said, glancing back at him. “Couldn’t have told me that in the hospital?”
There was a teasing edge to it, light—but testing. Achilles closed his eyes briefly, a faint smile pulling at his lips—then it was gone. His expression hardened, like a door slamming shut. Briseis noticed the shift immediately, but didn’t say anything. The air felt… different. “So,” she started, more cautious now, “we’ll get furniture this weekend or something?”
“Yeah,” he said, already half-distracted, his attention drifting to his phone. “We can go to IKEA. Some of my friends might come, if you don’t mind.”
“No… I don’t mind.” He didn’t look up. Not once. She wouldn't let him see it affected her though!
And that told her everything she needed to know. A second later, he turned and walked out. Silence lingered in his absence. Phoenix let out a quiet breath before offering her an apologetic look. “I’m sorry. He’s… complicated.” That was one way to put it.
“You’re welcome to stay here, or explore the house if you’d like,” he added gently.
Briseis forced a small smile, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I think I’m just gonna… take a nap. If that’s okay.”
“Of course,” Phoenix said. “Rest well.” He left, closing the door softly behind him. And just like that, she was alone. Alone again. Briseis turned slowly, taking in the size of the room—the space, the quiet, the unfamiliar comfort.
It didn’t feel like hers. None of it did. She sat down on the edge of the bed, staring at nothing.
This was her life now, huh?