( GOLDEN GIRL ) ethan nakamura pt.2
ethan nakamura x apollo!fem!reader
part one , the backstory
! - part two , the betrayal
part three , the balance of the scales
( this is an excerpt from a fic turned into a few posts with an oc turned x reader hence specific description and jett, another oc. )
in which reader shows up at the palace to try and stop the resurrection of kronos, but her shock at seeing ethan stuns her, getting her captured.
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ETHAN'S BODY LURCHED FORWARD YET again, constricting as he hovered over the toilet bowl and emptied his insides. He had knelt on the cold marble of the foyer for what felt like hours, sickness wracking his frame in endless torment.
He had never meant this. He had never meant for you to show up. Why did you have to show up? He couldn't allow himself to care ─ they were too far into the war for him to crumble now. He had brought back Kronos; he had been the one to hold an honour everyone else on their side could only dream of.
So why was he in so much pain?
The pot that held the content of his stomach had once held some form of flower; Ethan didn't bother taking a good look before he shoved his head in there and puked. He figured he was doing the place a favour ─ flowers had no place in a fortress like this. He was wiping out the beauty that stuck out sorely, desecrating it with his own heartache and guilt. He wipes his forehead with a heavy hand, a light layer of sweat dotting the skin above his eye patch.
Footsteps fell against the floor, the sound echoing through the chamber and off of the walls. "If the girl is too much of a distraction, we can have her killed."
Ethan raised his head once it had stilled, turning to meet the amused eyes of Iapetus. The titan stepped forward once more, inches away now from where Ethan lay resting against the flowerpot he had filled with vomit. Iapetus pulled a face looking inside, stepping back almost immediately in distaste. The titan cast a shadow over Ethan as he stood tall, his hair a majestic shade of silver and his eyes piercing. "A boss is only as weak as his lieutenant, mortal. The girl is valuable, but she may die if she must. If it is what it takes."
Ethan groaned, lifting his head. "Don't... touch her."
Iapetus laughed. "Very threatening. We'll see how that holds." His foot lurched out, kicking Ethan's weak form. "Pathetic." He stood straight, now towering even more over Ethan. Ethan tried to scramble backwards, his back pressed flush against the pot as his hairs pricked up on his arms and neck. "The boss is with her right now. If she's still in one piece when he's done, you're to go down there yourself." The titan's tone turned icy. "You get her on our side, or you're done for."
Ethan's head fell as Iapetus's footsteps began to retreat, and as soon as he knew the immortal was out of sight or earshot he turned and threw up so violently he thought his remaining eye would pop right out of his head.
What felt like an age later, he lifted his limbs up off of the marble and staggered to his feet, grabbing the wall as his vision flickered black. When he had regained composure, and the foyer stopped spinning in his peripheral, he walked back through the main throne room, trying not to gag as he saw the streak of blood below the dais that he knew belonged to you. He slipped through a small door at the back end of the chamber, and found the descending obsidian stairs that led deep down to the 'dungeon'; that being what Alabaster called it. He came face to face at the bottom of the staircase with a single guard ─ the only one down here, he expected ─ another demigod. Ethan was sure he knew him, swearing him to be Ioannis; the incredibly irritating boy who had nearly been chosen for his fight in Antaeus's arena. Frankly, Ethan wished it had been him. Maybe then he would never have had to re-prove himself by presenting the scythe, and you wouldn't have been taken hostage by the first complete psychopath in creation. Ioannis was short for his age; what Ethan assumed to be around fifteen, maybe sixteen. He had a messy array of long, below shoulder length brown hairs on his head, and an upturned mouth that Ethan hated for it's permanent smirk.
"She's all yours." Ioannis said smugly, a grin lining his lips. "Is it true you guys are exes? I heard she's more anti-Olympian than we are. Man, I can't wait to see the look on those campers when─"
"Shut up, Ioannis." Ethan grumbled, shoving the boy with his shoulder as he walked past. He heard Ioannis spluttering behind him as he walked on, and he rolled his eyes in response. Man, that guy was irritating. Ethan was sure they'd placed him as guard down there because he was such a repellent for any creature with ears.
He progressed further, through the heavy set double doors made of ─ you guessed it ─ obsidian. Would it kill them to have a feature wall? Ethan considered a nice tone of orange. Too close to home, actually. You loved orange. Ethan winced at the thought.
There was only one cell in use. The room was circular, with doors lining the wall all arranged around the centre of the chamber ─ a stature of Kronos, captured holding his scythe aloft in victory as he stood atop the body of Ouranos, a depiction of the titan lord' first murder gig. Very poetic.
The cell was easy to determine, since the gap underneath showed the inside glowing. It was faint, but Ethan naturally recognised the hue of your distress. Who's complicated ex didn't glow golden when she was kidnapped?
He approached the door, getting about two feet away before the overwhelming sickness returned. There was no flowerpot here, and Ethan didn't think his first defining action as the future cosmos ruler's right hand man should be upchucking all over his statue. He slowly brought his palm up to the door, his heart pounding in his chest harder than he thought it ever had. By this time, you had become aware of a presence outside the door. You didn't call out; simply waited for an indication of identity.
"B─" Ethan choked. "Bug?"
Your heart stopped. Your stomach twisted violently, and she let out a blended sound between a quiet gasp and a cry.
Ethan took another breath in. "I─" he urged himself to continue. "Can I come in? I just ... I just wanna talk. Please?" He pressed his forehead against the door, cursing his luck.
"No." You said softly. You weren't sure youercomposure, that you'd kept all through the conversation with Kronos, could handle seeing your boy again. Not under these circumstances.
"Okay. I'll stay here. I just─ I'm so sorry, Bug." Ethan's voice trailed to a murmur. "I never meant for any of this to happen." He was sure his eye was moistening now. "I cant stop. I can't. Please don't ask me to." His tone was desperate, he was pleading with you.
"Why?"
Ethan was startled at this. "What?" He asked. He heard you sigh inside the cell.
"Why did you join them, Ethan?" You felt your voice break in your throat, the words choking up in their delivery. You too were pleading with him. You were sure nobody could hear the two of you, since the only guard was the idiot by the stairs, and Kronos had wanted full privacy for his own discussion with you. You figured he also knew you were no threat to his lieutenant ─ you could never hurt him. You wouldn't. You hated that they could use your own heart against you.
Ethan felt a sob growing in his chest. He forced it down. He was older now. You couldn't prise him open like you used to, not anymore. "I thought you'd understand. The gods are your enemy now. They cast you down to punish your own father, and what did he ever do to help you out of the mess he made? Cheat on your mom? He ruined her life too!" He was angry now. Angry at the gods, angrier than before somehow. Not at you. Never at you. But he was angry that you weren't, after all Olympus had put you through. "I grew up. I saw things for what they were." He kept going. "I slept on the floor for years. I prayed every night to a god who's name I didn't know. I lived with siblings that weren't mine, goddamnit. I had nobody, damnit."
"Nobody?" Your voice was a dangerous whisper. "You had nobody?" You were glad you hadn't let him inside now, he couldn't see you shaking with white hot anger.
"I had you." The anger stopped. Ethan's hand slid down the door, squeaking awfully as it moved. His forehead was still flush against the door, but the tears had begun to spill from his single right eye.
"So why wasn't that enough? Why did you leave camp, Ethan? Why did you leave me? I loved you, Ethan. You knew that. We were kids ─ I didn't expect anything from you, and you ran. You always run. I didn't need you to love me back. I just needed you to be there, to stay." You replied desperately. You had long since come to terms with the fact that your first love had been forever gone, and now here you were, pouring your heart out to him as you knelt on the other side of a cell that held you captive. "You left me, E. And now you're not even you. I'll never get you back."
Your voice was barely a whisper now. Ethan felt his heart tumble through his chest and out, spilling forward onto the cold floor as he listened to your gentle sadness empty from your heart.
Ethan looked around, as if confirming there was nobody there. He breathed in, his crying almost audible in his voice as he spoke only to the girl he had once cared for more than anything; more than finding out his parentage, more than making a difference. He wished now that you both still lived together at camp, happy and unburdened by this closeness to the war.
"I loved you. The whole time. I loved you more than my body could handle." His voice broke, but he continued, tears still falling gently from his right eye. He was grateful that he couldn't see you, or he thought he'd break down. "It took over my life, Bug. It turned me inside out ─ I didn't know what to do. And I'm so sorry. I wanted to tell you. To be able to say the words, like you could. I'm─" There was no hope for salvation of his composure now.
"I'm so sorry. Please, I'm so sorry." He wiped his eye with the hand that wasn't resting against the door. The tears were forced out of his eye by his proximity to you, yes, but the guilt wasn't all your doing. He felt like he'd let down everybody who'd given him a chance, even Percy Jackson. But he couldn't stop. You wouldn't try ans stop him, either. You knew the gods, what they were like. You knew this had to happen. You also knew she had to save as many good people as you could. "I'm so scared, Bug." He whispered.
"I know." You said no more.
After an eternity of silence, Ethan stood. He opened his mouth to say something, but he wasn't sure he had words left. He turned around and began back, his footsteps ricocheting off of the walls. He was sure he heard you slump back in your cell, whether with relief or shock; to tell the truth, it had been a sort of grief you didn't know you could feel for someone still living.
But Ethan was gone. You couldn't hold on to him any longer. You had a camp full of people that hadn't betrayed you, and after talking with Kronos, you knew they were in terrible danger. There was no time to lose.
















