Marlene Davis is not one to feel remorse. No guilt has plagued her from running away from her fiancé, from destroying her uncle's prized office, from the relationships she came between for entertainment, from the Hephaestus cabin she once destroyed some sixty years ago, from the bribery and conning she's done to keep herself and Warren safe and well-fed on their journey across the states, and she certainly feels no remorse at following her mother's wishes to grant the daughter of Eris her much-desired revenge.
Her dreams of her mother are clearer, stronger every night, more direct in exactly what steps she needs to take to ensure her oath against the camp comes to fruition. She has wanted to tell Warren for the entirety of her plan, but she is unsure how he'll react, thinks the one action she would find herself in guilt over would be sending the only person she cares about to meet his father. No, Warren doesn't deserve that fate, although the rest of the camp will soon meet such a fate.
She has stolen quite the collection of poisonous vials from the Hecate cabin, ready to coat the armory's blades in them. The Capture the Flag games usually end quite a few bruised, but Marlene chuckles as she envisions how much darker the next round will result in. Everything is falling into place perfectly until the head daughter of Athena has to stick her nose where it truly doesn't belong. She confronts Marlene about the vials, and although she casually tells the suspicious blonde that she's running an errand for a child of Hecate, it doesn't seem to ease the girl's mind.
Marlene cannot afford to lose herself this long lusted after gratification, so she trails the girl over the next week to be sure there is nothing of significant importance that she has discovered. To her dismay, Marlene discovers her attempting to stealthily slip into the Hermes cabin for some secret meeting with the son of Hermes and daughter of Demeter. Alexandria must have discovered her plan enough to discuss it with the others. However, by the time Marlene gets close enough to hear, they're only talking about a road trip they have planned for August 19th. She wants to destroy the girl as she's alone, but it's only when she finds her reading old journals from when Marlene had been at camp that she's certain the daughter of Athena must perish. She can't murder her at camp, too many witnesses, so Marlene instead bribes someone from the Hypnos cabin to block the memories of the past weekend from the girl's mind.
It's not enough, however, because the Hypnos boy doesn't seem entirely confident that this bout of amnesia will prolong so Marlene bides her time until the 19th, taking note of the make of the car and the time Chiron says the group must be home by. She's waiting on the side of the road, uses her energy to destroy a brake line on Jace's truck, watching in success as the car collides into another, spiraling off a cliff to their death.
What a horror it is to return to camp hours later and find the very blonde she thought she killed outside the borders. Alexandria's eyes are bright with tears, and she is alone, as if she has travelled this far into the woods to be vulnerable without the gaze of others. Her anguish at Marlene's actions is satisfying, although she assumes it is because of Jace. The girl has to die anyway, but Marlene decides she has the time to glean what pleasure she can in the process.
" It wasn't supposed to be him, " she informs her. " But if I'd known how much you cared about him, I would have given a slower death." Alexandria's eyes widen in confusion, but she is a daughter of Athena after all, and she can visibly see her putting together the missing pieces, her gaze transforming into one almost as contemptuous as her own. " You did this? You tormented all those campers for your own amusement?" " I thought you were with them." " You did this because of me?" Alexandria's fingertips hover above her bracelet for only a moment before they settle on the sheath that holds her sword. " .... Because of the books I found in the library. You made me forget ? " Marlene nods, draws her own sword in return. " You're quite the clever one, honestly. If you weren't, you would have made it to watch me burn this camp to the ground." " What in Hades did we ever do to you ? We rescued you from the gods damned Lotus Hotel ! " " The sons will pay for the sins of the father," she tells her right before Alexandria's sword clashes with her own blade. " Gods, you psychotic bitch! "
Their insults come to a halt as their battle ensues. Alexandria is a more skilled fighter, though Marlene expends her energy on fueling the girl's rage, her swings becoming more unstrategized, emotions getting the best of her. Marlene uses the unfair fight to her advantage, because unlike her, the daughter of Athena now has nothing to lose. They're both bloodied and fatigued by the end of it, but Marlene manages the last blow, thrusting the sword into Alexandria, just below her rib cage. The blonde glances down to witness the now protruding blade, as though she's gone numb as she falls to her knees.
She's finally victorious, but there is no time to revel in it as a flash of golden blonde hair appears in the distance. Marlene can barely react before an arrow has struck her violently in the chest. What happens next is a blur, but her scream can be heard across camp, though not in agony. Her immediate goal of eliminating the daughter of Athena is an apparent success, but she will not survive to see her mother's plan come to light. The last thing she remembers is the daughter of Apollo rushing to Alexandria's aid and hearing the girl bleeding out begging her to tell their friends how sorry she is.
If only there were someone to tell Warren how sorry she is.
Warren often found himself lost in his own head, staring at the ground with his eyes glazed over. How could he focus on reality when it still seemed so much like a dream? He’d lost over sixty years; walked out of a hotel to hear that the world had made it to the turn of the century already. All of his old friends, spare Marlene, were likely dead…his mother too. Hell, he was assumed dead after his disappearance.
He couldn’t help but to drift away into thoughts of what used to be, silently rolling a raw ruby between his thumb and forefinger. How the children of the eldest three were treated in his time (how much that has changed), how much stronger he used to feel, and how truly lost he was in the twenty first century. If it wasn’t for Marlene, he’d likely have gone insane already. The sheer amount of reading he needed to do each day to catch up was enough to fry his brain even if it was written in Greek, but instead he had it all in English on a bright screen that he still didn’t really understand.
Hearing footsteps approaching, Warren broke himself from his train of thought and looked up at the person, waiting to see if they would step closer or simply ignore his presence and continue about their business.
Marlene had spent the weekend tying up all of her unnecessary loose ends, particularly involving the much-too intrusive daughter of Athena. Now that she was almost certain everything was falling back into place, the daughter of Eris found time to relax. Her Monday had been spent at the Aphrodite cabin, getting a makeover to help her fit in better with this generation. Fitting in had never been the goal, but she had wanted someone to cut her hair without leaving having to do it herself.
Her once long locks now too short to even reach her shoulders, Marlene sat beside Warren, silent for a moment as she eyed the ruby with interest. Too comfortable around her best friend to even bother with greetings, she let out an exhausted sigh before speaking, “ How peculiar is this generation ? They have these devices called iPhones to either call a friend or attack an enemy and they all carry them in their pocket. ”
She doesn’t know how to explain to him that her life is on the line if he can’t pull this off, so she only nods. Worst case scenario, she’s willing to resort to... alternative means of solving the problem. “ Well, if you can manage to to successfully make a requested individual lose a weekend’s worth of memories, I’ll give you anything you ask for. ”
Noah blinked. “Uh, yeah? What about it? Did you hit your head?”
Marlene shakes her head, but steps closer to ensure no one else hears them.
“ No, but is it true that you can do the same thing that hitting your head can ? Blocking someone’s memories ? ”
“Klossy and Diala are catching you up.” Danny said with a paired concerned tone and expression on his face. “Yep, exactly like an Iris Message!”
“ Yes, they’ve both proved quite helpful ! I owe them both one, ” she told him, pretending not to notice his unwarranted concern. “ I see ! And how do you like the camp ? ”
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