"I didn't expect to see you here."

Sam turned his head to see me, while he sat cross legged in front of John's grave. The sky shown with bright stars, but we weren't graced with the moon light this night, so the darkness was heavier.

But there was still enough light for me to make out Sam's solemn expression.

"Oh hey Rey. What's up?" He asked glumly.

I sat down next to him and shrugged. "Nothing much, you?"

Sam waved his hand at John's grave. "Y'know being all sad and stuff."

The two of us sat in silence, enjoying the night breeze. I rubbed my throat, as it was still sore from Quintus's attack the other day.

The whole situation was traumatic for me. Having to kill someone I barely knew just to save my own life. Of course, I didn't actually kill someone, as it turned out to just be a lifelike robot, but it didn't change how similar it felt to when I..... when I killed my dad.

The thought made me shiver. So did the voice that spoke through Quintus's body. That women's voice, whoever they were, was familiar to me. I heard it in my nightmares for months. In those nightmares, a crazed blonde women with grey eyes chased me for what felt like eternity. Every night getting closer and closer. Even when I had a rare good dream.

Whatever or whoever that was, I knew I would have to face them in the labyrinth.

"Your thinking about all the crazy stuff that just happened?" Sam asked me, as he pulled overgrown grass near John's grave.

I nodded. "Yeah I am."

The silence continued.

The annoyance I felt for Sam not initiating the conversation steadily increased as the seconds went on. We wanted to speak to each of other, but neither of us knew how.

I turned my attention to the stars and wondered if this is how Jason or Gwen felt during our first adventure. Constantly having to think of ways to pry more information out of me until I fully opened up. The idea made me feel bad. Right now, I wanted to hear more from Sam. To understand why he was so upset, but he stubbornly remain closed off. It was frustrating. Jason and Gwen likely felt the same way when trying to reach out to me.

I recalled my conversation with Mr. Parker. The risks needed to be taken in order to forge a stronger relationship.

I took a deep breath and took a page out of Jason's book. "So Sam, why did you take the job of Praetor when you never wanted to be?"

Sam blinked, probably not expecting a direct question like that. "Oh, uh, don't worry about that. I was just upset is all, with everything going on, y'know?"

I had to suppress a frustrated sigh, he was playing hard to get. "Sam, if you didn't feel that way, you wouldn't have said it. You can tell me Sam, I'm not going to judge you."

Sam smiled dryly. "If that's the case, you wouldn't be asking me at all."

I punched his arm. "Stop being annoying. I'm just trying to help."

Sam rubbed his arm. "Ow. Has anyone ever told you your a jerk when you care about someone?"

I smiled. "Yes many times. Now come on, spill the beans."

Sam continued to rub his arm. "Spill the beans? Okay."

He farted. A really nasty fart.

I punched him again and stood up, pinching my nose. "Oh my gods, Sam!"

He laughed. "Nah that was a wet one. Consider it pay back for punching me."

I put my hands on my hip. "Okay, now that we are even, can you start telling me about that sad stuff your referring too?"

Sam sighed. "What do you want me to say? I mean- holy Pluto- that stinks."

I gagged. "Oh my gods! Sam, are you sure you didn't shit yourself?"

Sam giggled. "Nah, I have water powers, I can prevent that from happening. How about we go somewhere less gloomy?"

"Like where?" I asked him.

**************************

"Whoa, this is beautiful."

We sat atop the Golden Gate Bridge, overlooking the entire bay. Scipio trotted happily behind us, enjoying the breeze.

Sam laughed. "Yeah tell me about it Skip."

My eyebrows scrunched together. "Skip?"

"I wasn't talking to you." Sam blinked. "Oh yeah, you can't hear her."

"Hear who?" I asked.

Sam gestured towards Scipio. "I can talk to horses, y'know, as a son of Neptune and all. Sorry, I'm not used to people being up hear with me. It's usually just me and Scipio."

I stared at Scipio. "You can hear her talk? Like in your mind?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah. It's weird, don't really know how to explain it. It's not like she can read my mind or anything, it's just..... we talk. I really can't explain it. She really likes you though- ow!"

Scipio started chewing Sam's hair. "Okay okay okay, I'll keep that to myself. Ow! Let go."

Scipio let go and neighed, she nudged my head gently and walked off to the other end of the platform we sat on.

"What did she say?" I asked.

Sam rubbed his head. "She rather I not tell you, she wants to remain 'mysterious'" He did jazz hands when he said 'mysterious'.

I shrugged, trying to look cool, as the idea of a Scipio really liking me made me feel giddy inside. "I kind of figured. She always picks me during training."

Sam made a popping sound. "Yep......"

I punched his arm.

"Ow! Whats the deal with you hitting me?" Sam exclaimed.

I crossed my arms. "You brought me all the way up here just so we can sit in silence again? Your going to tell me how you feel, now!"

He sighed loudly. "Gods, your so mean when you care." He straightened up. "Why do you even care? It's not like we are super close friends or whatever."

"Because.... Well......." His question surprised me. It's exactly the kind of thing I would say to Jason or Gwen when they would ask how I'm feeling. It's something I still do, unfortunately.

"Because..... I know what it feels like to be afraid." I finally responded.

Sam played with his cloak, which he had removed and held in his lap. "Afraid? Of what?"

"Trusting someone else....... Letting yourself be vulnerable." I said. We locked eyes.

Sam gulped as we let go of each other's gaze. "Yeah, that's a nice way to put it. But even if I told you, what would change?"

I smirked. "More then you think."

"How so?" He followed up.

I looked down at my hands and played with my fingers. "When I met Jason, he was super..... how do I put it........... caring? I guess. He could sense something was wrong. That I was feeling all sad and stuff. He wanted me to tell him and every time I shut him down. Out of fear he would use that information against me, somehow."

"But?" Sam asked.

"But that wasn't true. You know Jason, he's the poster boy for 'being a nice guy'. He only wanted to help me. Even worse, my....... Issues started affecting him too." I said while playing with my braid.

"In what ways?" Sam asked.

"It's a long story, but my power to share strength.... It started acting in weird ways. Jason wasn't just getting my strength, but my fears and anger." I explained.

Sam scrunched his eyebrows. "But I thought your power was a one way exchange, right?"

I shrugged. "Me too. But things were just different with Jason. We were able to connect on a different level. But that's not the point. The point is because I kept all that pain to myself, I ended up hurting the very people trying to help me."

That seemed to resonate with Sam, his gaze directed towards the San Francisco Bay. "So then what happened?"

I rubbed my hands together slowly. "Jason and Gwen found out eventually. Someone took that choice away from me and told them anyways. I was so scared when they found out the truth, about what I did."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "What did you do?"

I gulped, my hands sweating profusely. "I.... I killed someone. A long time ago."

Sam leaned forward. "Who?"

Scipio came behind me and nudged my back, she tucked her legs underneath her and laid behind me so I could rest my back on her.

Sharing the truth was more difficult then I realized, but if I backed away now, this whole conversation would be pointless.

"I killed my... dad." I said, holding my breath.

Both Sam and Scipio were taken a back by this. Scipio snorted and Sam's eyes widen. "Whoa," he finally said. "Patricide. That's- wow that's..... terrible."

Sam looked back at me while I wiped tears from my eyes. "In self defense, right?"

I nodded, not trusting myself to say anything more without crying.

Sam nodded. "Good, I'll pretend like I didn't hear anything..... OH! That explains why Jason wants to modify the law. He was talking about it so much when he first started as Praetor."

I nodded, feeling awkward and grateful. Awkward for Sam's weirdly timed enthusiasm and grateful for him keeping it a secret. "Yep."

Sam sat back. "So when they found out that bomb shell, no offense, how did that make you feel better? What did they do exactly to help you? I mean, did sharing that with me now make you feel better?"

I smiled, this guy spends a little too much time alone, I thought to myself. "Yeah they did help me feel better. And it wasn't so much of a specific thing they did, except Jason, he always does more then he should." I told him.

I focused my gaze towards the bay below, watching the fog roll over the sea. "But they just....... They just endured with me. Gwen cried with me. Jason told me what I needed to hear. Without me even asking them too."

My shirt was getting a work out from all the tears I wiped from my face. I was so grateful for my friends and all they have done for me. The feeling was quickly replaced with shame, as my recent actions didn't reflect my love for them.

Have I endured for them, the same way they did for me?

Before Sam could respond further, I answered his final question. "And yes Sam. It did make me feel better to tell you. As long as you plan to keep a secret, for now."

Sam laughed awkwardly. "No, yeah. Definitely plan to keep it a secret. I said it before and I'll say it again, you don't strike me as a bad person. If anything, I wish I knew sooner. I could have helped Jason. Two praetor's can do more then one........."

Sam raised his knees to his face. I waited in anticipation.

"I agreed to be Praetor because...... I didn't want to let anyone down. The camp looked at me as this beacon of change compared to John's rigid control. But I was just a regular legionnaire from the fifth cohort, I was nothing special." He finally said.

"The day they chose me as Praetor, I was right here, on the golden gate bridge. I had stolen Scipio during one of our pegasi training sessions. Saved Max and Bronk from a sea monster. I even managed to kill it on my own. Which impressed the legion enough to make me Praetor." Sam dropped his knees over the edge of the platform we stood on. "I was just the wrong guy, at the right place, at the right time."

I wanted to correct him, but my instincts told me to stay quiet. He was like a flower slowly blooming, each petal revealing itself as he spoke.

"Now here I am, the praetor of the final legion of Rome. I wasn't supposed to make it here. I'm just a stupid kid from a small village in Mexico who got his family killed for being the son of a god." He wiped his nose with his arm and looked over the edge of the platform.

My body tensed, prepared for whatever he would do, but he stayed there. He stared down below, as if contemplating if he would jump.

"I......... I grew up in a coco leaf farm village run by a local gang. My family had to bust there butts everyday to make pennies while the gang made a fortune. I remember growing up thinking I would pull us out of that life." He wiped his nose with his arm and used his shirt to wipe his tears. "But then the monsters started coming as I got older. Of course, the mist being the mist, the gangs thought they were other gangs. The gang would get into a shoot out with a flock of harpies and swore they fought off a large rival gang."

Sam cracked his knuckles. "The monsters kept coming and coming. Soon the gang started to suspect a spy in the village. They started asking questions, trying to figure out what was going on."

Sam covered his mouth, contemplating if he should say more. "My mom did so good lying to them. They would have never suspected a thing. But.....but then a group of wild centaurs charged the village, the damage was severe. The gang interrogated the whole village after that. All I had to do was stay quiet, to keep my mouth shut and......"

"You tried to tell them." I finished for him.

His gritted his teeth as his body tensed up, the same way mine did when I started having a panic attack. Scipio immediately rose up and went over to Sam's side, resting behind him similar to how she did for me. She played with his hair while he tried to control himself. His body trembled intensely and his breathing became labored.

I put my hand on his shoulder and his face shot up to look at me, his eyes were wild and panicked. "All I had to do was stay quiet, Rey! To keep my mouth shut, but then they threatened to make an example out of someone! My mom begged me to stay quiet! 'No les digas nada" she said."

Sam put his face into his hands. "I tried running forward, to take the blame. But my Mom took the blame. All of it. Have you seen what a Mexican gang execution? Especially for a women? I had to- I had to wa- They made me watch!"

He shouted. The winds around us picked up and down below, the waves crashed against the golden gate bridge.

Sam trembled as he cried. Scipio continued to play with his hair. Using her left wing, she tapped the back of my head gently. The two of us met eyes, but I wasn't sure what she wanted me to do.

She brought her wing around Sam miming a hug.

She wanted me to hug him.

Would he be okay with that? I thought to myself.

As if sensing this, she nodded her head and snorted.

I scooted towards Sam and slowly put my arm around his shoulder. Sam immediately leaned against me, his head touching my own as he cried. Scipio wrapped her left wing around us while we endured.

"I .. failed .... her." Sam said in between fits of crying. "I'm..... going...... to fail...... Rome too."

I wrapped my arms around him. "No, Sam. Your mom didn't give her life because she thought you were a failure."

Sam coughed and cried some more. "........then why?" He finally asked.

"She did it because she loved you Sam. She did it because she knew you would be more then just a farmer in a small village, but a hero." I told him.

Sam continued to sob for most of the night, while Scipio and I stayed with him and endured.

We endured for as long as Sam needed us too.