✧ *

Bernie deeply missed her best friends the past several months, and the time without them was hard on her mental health. Every time she’d remember the pain that Anya and Millie weren’t around anymore, she knew there were two people on this earth whom she would want to talk about these feelings, which made it hurt even more. Seeing Millie tonight, and now embracing Anya, it felt like a cruel dream. Any moment she’d wake up and she would have to go on living without them. She tried to shake these feelings aside, and laughed despite the darkness in Anya’s humor. “How did they catch you? It must have been so fast…” she was the one Anya was supposed to meet, and Bernie had always partially blamed herself. If Bernie hadn’t wanted to see her friend, then she wouldn’t have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. “Worried? About me?” She blinked, confused. “I’m okay, An. I’ve just been..a little depressed, is all. I…what about you? Are you okay?”

“I can’t even remember how it happened. One minute I was on the phone, then the next...”  Anya shook her head at the recollection. After the fuss she caused, she pitied the Nyx child who was tasked with snatching her. It was a rollercoaster of emotions she never wanted to relive. “Of course I was worried about you. We were all lounging about on an extended vacation when everyone here was assuming the worst.” Anya couldn’t help but feel guilty for all the grief she had caused because of a thoughtless decision. An impulse which turned a ten-minute journey to Bernie’s into a six-month long stint in Asphodel. “I had Millie with me the whole time so... I can’t really complain. You had Kali and Theo to deal with.” And that was on top of losing her two best friends. “I don’t know how you did it, Bern. Honestly.”

Viv watched Anya stroll into the house, a guest she never expected to have granted a welcome to but here they were. Viv sat on the other couch facing Anya, positioning herself forward as her elbows rested on her legs. The daughter of Athena’s mind raced, wondering what it was Anya could be here to talk about but to Viv it couldn’t have been good. She was about to speak when Anya spoke first, leaving the words hanging on Viv’s lips as the words registered in her ears. “Ah- he what?” she asked hesitantly- still feeling the sting even when his name was mentioned. “When did he tell you all of this? Anya-” she trailed off, leaving her words hang in the air as things began to register to Anya. “You- You don’t owe me an apology, although I appreciate it. Given the tables were turned I would have probably done just the same.” Viv couldn’t help but sigh then as the topic caused old wounds that Viv had thought had healed now came to the surface.

“He told me in purgatory. I can’t really give an exact timeframe since time there blended together but—” Anya had to stop herself from mindlessly rambling. “We got to talking and yeah.” She figured there wasn’t much more to say about it other than that. Finding out she had been hating Viv for all these years without a valid reason was a total shock to the system. Then finding out the truth about Charles... that made her sick to her stomach. “I owe you more than an apology, Viv. I blamed you when I should have put two-and-two together with the whole demigod thing.” To be fair, in her state of grief, Anya wasn’t exactly thinking clearly at the time. “I wish you told me when you found out. Then I could have—” She didn’t know how to finish that sentence. After all, the damage had already been done. Anya didn’t blame Viv for neglecting to tell her. Their interactions weren’t exactly known for being the most amicable. And there was never a good time to find out your best friend was a demigod-trafficking scumbag. “How the hell did we not see it?”

“Assault? More like someone trespassing- And also you’d need witnesses” he teased, looking around to see most everyone was either out on assignment or occupied with a task. He got a good chuckle out of her sass, honestly missing the banter they shared from back in the meadow. “Yea, okay. You’d actually have had to pay taxes in the last few months for that to count,” he retorted back with a smirk. Luke went from amused and enjoying the days surprise to his face slowly dropping to curiosity and worry. “To do what now, Anya?… What are you talking about? Is this about FInk?” he offered with a lowered tone so no one in the precinct could hear.

Anya opened her mouth to respond with a quip but instead rolled her eyes at his comment. “One of these days, your smartass comments will earn you a punch in the face. Except this time I won’t miss,” she threatened, with a mischievous grin. When Luke mentioned Fink, a perplexed expression appeared on her face. “What? No!” Anya unintentionally raised her voice in surprise— the total opposite of Luke's hushed tone. “I'm not capable of killing people.” She paused, before clarifying. “Well, not intentionally. I don't have the stomach for murder. I did have some pretty creative plans for the Fink situation but no death.” Her voice trailed off as her rambling came to a halt and she raised an eyebrow. “Do you really think I'm that shady?”

“Well we could try one of those volcanos? Where you mix shit together and it explodes.” Nelly suggested with a smirk. “Those sound cool too. Maybe we can try them out. Maybe not the baby oil slip ‘n slide with toddlers though.” It seemed like that might not be a good idea. “Do you think we could put the two of them in a room together and just see what happens?”

“Oh, definitely. That would be fun and dare-devilish. Once I tried that shaving foam raincloud experiment. That shit went everywhere, which was quite surprising because it’s one of the more tame experiments I’ve done. A coke and mentos rocket, though. That’s always fun.” Anya chuckled that her suggestion. “Anything to get Theo off my back always has my vote.”

“Stop shouting.” The reply from the brunette came almost as a garbled groan, barely intelligible through her hungover state. Her eyes fluttered open to see an empty bottle right by her face, and she let out another loud moan as she pushed it to the side. Unfortunately, it rolled off of the sofa with the decibel level of a jet plane crash, and she jumped up into a sitting position which made her feel horrendous. “Anya, I feel like death.”

“I’m not shouting, Ness,” she protested at an unintentionally heightened volume. The sound of the bottle crashing to the floor made her screw her eyes shut. “Where’s my phone?” Anya mumbled as she searched the couch around her.  She spotted her phone laying on the floor and she reached over to grab it, narrowly avoiding falling onto the floor. “Who do we know who’s generous enough to bring us coffee and breakfast?”

“I believe the term you were looking for, dear sister, is friend. My friend kidnapped you, which yes was a bit of a problem. Thing is, I don’t know if I can particularly be angry with him. It’s not like your ex would have let any harm come to you.” Dexter couldn’t help but point out. Everyone knew of the less than perfect relationship between Anya and the former detective. That’s why when he heard it was the Nyx kids, Dexter had fully believed his sister was completely safe. It didn’t make it right in the slightest. “Last I checked you and Penelope do the plotting against me not the other way around. That’s really why you’re here, isn’t it?”

“Hmm, sure.” Anya grinned smugly, tilting her head to the side. Until she heard the ex comment, which promptly wiped that smug expression off her face. “Can I call Ezra and confirm this friendship status for myself? I think you need thank him personally for giving you an Anya-free vacation,” she teased, chuckling to herself. “No! I came to see my favorite brother, whose handsome face I haven’t seen in months. Is that a crime?” She failed to acknowledge the fact Dex was her only brother. Well, that she was aware of anyway. “It hurts that you assume the worst in me, Dex. What have I ever done to you?”

Walking through the precinct doors once again still felt foreign to him. It still surprised Luke how much stuff still felt weird now that he was back, and wondered when it would ever feel like home again. As we walked up to his desk, he rolled his eyes playfully at seeing the person who was now occupying his desk. “As if we didn’t share enough space in the meadows you steal my desk now?” he teased as he walked up, playfully pushing her feet off his desk. He then moved to sit where her feet previously occupied, folding his arms as he did so. “And why exactly are you looking that up? You literally just got home from being presumed dead. Gonna fulfill my wildest fantasies of going missing again?” he joked. 

Anya didn’t even have time to protest before gravity hauled her legs back to the floor. “Assault,” she mumbled, resisting the urge to whack his arm in retaliation. Although, being in a police precinct and hitting a cop, she figured that wouldn’t be the brightest idea. Since her impromptu visit to Asphodel, Anya’s concept of boundaries had become a little skewed. Now, whenever she was left in her own company, she didn’t know what to do with herself. “Oh haha,” she deadpanned. “Lucas, we have discussed this. That is not how you speak to friends whose taxes pay your wages. But me, disappearing willingly? I would never do such a thing. There must be a guide on how to murder someone and get away with it,” she suggested, beginning to fiddle with her keyboard. The realization hit her and Anya slowly rolled the chair backwards. “... You probably already know.”

“A- a rage spree? Are you absolutely sure we’re talking about your cousin Theo? Your easygoing cousin Theo?” Chloe did not want to say ‘the Theo that makes bad life choices’ because Chloe and Anya also made bad life choices. No need to highlight everyone’s bad life choices. Whatever was happening, Chloe was pretty confused. “Uhm, okay, this sounds a little less disastrous. I wonder how you go about becoming a trophy wife, though. Where do wealthy people that have islands go to meet wives? I know more about money than that, and… uh, money is confusing. Who do we know that’s good with money?”

“Shock horror, I know. I’m guessing kidnapping his family and friends was a step too far. Millie was bad enough. Then me and Lach in the same day...” The thought of the turmoil Theo had gone through was tough for Anya to envision. For all the years she had known her cousin, she had never seen him get riled up over anything. But obviously, the events on Icaria flipped a switch. “Someone must have written an instruction manual. I figure you’d need to find a millionaire hotspot and go from there. Uhm, I don’t know Mr Krabs personally or any accountants.”

“Do you have a lot of people threatening to kill you, Anya?” Nelly couldn’t help but laugh at the comment and then Anya’s face at the gift. “Don’t worry Thali wouldn’t know any better. She just thinks you really like science since you taught her some.” Truthfully Nelly wasn’t a huge science person either. She’d been a history nut. “But more people to talk to? Thalia might faint.”

“I’m more of the fun experiment science kind of person,” she stated, although she used the term ‘science’ loosely. “I partook in a mentos and coke paddling pool experiment one time. That was fun. Oh, and the baby oil slip ‘n’ slide is always a winner.” Anya chuckled at that comment. “I think Theo might be one of the few who can rival Thalia with out-talking people. Once you get him started on something, he never stops. It’s great for putting you to sleep.”

Viv’s head swam with confusion as she embraced Anya. The last thing she’d ever expected was to be holding onto the one person that she knew couldn’t stand Viv as much as Viv couldn’t stand her. Their dark history had made it sure that they would never be friends, but now Viv wasn’t so sure. She let go of the trash bag tentatively as she watched Anya bring her trash to the trashcan, wondering if she’d maybe drunk herself into a weird dream, until the brunette made her way back to her porch. “Uh- Yea. I’m not gonna lie here, Anya. I’m really confused,” Viv spoke as she took a step aside to let her in the house.

Anya mumbled an expression of gratitude as she entered the house. Wringing her hands awkwardly, she made her way into the front room and positioned herself on the sofa. She had been this visualizing this interaction for months. But now the time had come, her mind had gone blank. Anya knew she might as well just spit it out, knowing there was no sense in beating around the bush. “Wes told me about Charlie... and the accident.” The second she said Weston’s name aloud, she felt a pang of guilt in her chest. But she knew it was nothing compared to what Viv was feeling. “I’m sorry for the way I treated you, Viv. I was wrong and you didn’t deserve it. And I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to realize that.”

​Anya opened her eyes and groaned loudly, assaulted by the brightness of the room. Using an arm to shield her eyes, she inspected her surroundings and saw Ness laying on the opposite sofa. They definitely must have taken their new relationship status as roommates to a whole new level. The fact they hadn’t even made it past the front room was already cause for concern. She cringed at that thought, knowing she was yet to piece the events of the evening together. From past experiences, a Ness and Anya extravaganza was never tame. “Ness,” she rasped. “Turn the sun off.”

Fully reclined with her feet resting atop a desk and her eyes fixated on her phone, Anya had lost count of the number of minutes she’d been staking out the desk that clearly did not belong to her. By this point, it must have been somewhat equal to the number of perplexed stares her presence had earned. The sound of approaching footsteps prompted Anya’s head to snap upwards. “About time,” she mumbled, immediately perking up in anticipation. “Did you know wikiHow has an entire page dedicated to faking your own death? It makes you wonder what the success rate is.”

Viv had been doing everything in her power to avoid thinking about the events of the last few weeks. Normally she would be burring herself in her work at the hospital, but that was out of the question due to her being more of a liability than an asset to them right now. It was almost as if she was nesting, preparing her house for something she didn’t know what as she’d been cleaning everything. Winston and Felix sat atop the sofa watching their owner hustling about the house cleaning everything. Viv was on another trip to her trashcans with a trashbag of junk, when she was startled to see someone standing on her porch. It was even more startling to see Anya, someone that had always been at odds with Viv for at least a decade by now. “Anya why…” she started to speak when she felt the woman embrace her in a hug. The instant embrace and the woman’s words started to bring anger, not wanting what felt like Anya’s pity when she felt the tears starting to stream down her cheeks. All the blonde could do was nod as she dropped the bag of trash and hugged her back.

“I should have come to see you sooner...” She cut that sentence short, not knowing how to conclude it. The last few weeks had been a whirlwind and she knew she was one of the last people Viv would want to see, especially at a time like this. Anya pulled away from their embrace tentatively, her eyes landing on the trashbag at Viv’s feet. “Let me get that,” she mumbled, before taking hold of it and moving to discard it. Moments after, the she returned to the porch. Anya knew she had a lot of explaining to do. Given Viv’s emotional state and Anya being a bag of nerves, she figured sitting down would be preferable. “May I?” She asked, gesturing towards the door. “You don’t have to,” she assured, in fear she was overstepping.

He heard her before he saw her. Just as Theo had predicted, his sister was hurdling towards him, her arms open wide as she came in for a hug. Wrapping his arms around her tightly, he let out a hearty laugh and shook his head. “You have to stop getting yourself into trouble. I’ve been worried sick about you.” He wasn’t sure how many times he had to remind Anya not to run through exhibits before she got him fired from his job. Not that anyone minded right now. The problem would arise if she got herself mauled by a bear or something. “Theo warned me you were happy to see us which means you must have really hated being stuck in one place unable to ruin our lives.”

“I hold my hands up to all the other dumb shit I’ve done but I am so not taking the rap for this. Blame your not boyfriend boy friend and his merry gang of kidnappers,” Anya joked as she tightened her grasp around her brother’s frame. “That’s putting it lightly. I couldn’t fulfil my one purpose in life. Wait a minute—” she paused, unravelling her arms. “This was yours and Penelope’s doing, wasn’t it? You pesky devils double-crossed me. I should have known.”

Bernie was exhausted from the evening’s events. It felt like days, not hours, that she’d put on this dress and attempted to smooth down her bushy hair before heading out for a night of fun with her love. She was feeling ecstatic–how could she not be, with all her loved ones back and safe–but she couldn’t help but feel bittersweet as well. Like, they had to pay to get the missings back. This didn’t sit right with her, but neither did the whole situation of Nyx going and taking everyone. Coming into her apartment, she was greeted enthusiastically by Kali before dropping her keys in the bowl next to the door, shedding her dress in favor of pajamas and immediately collapsing on the couch. Bernie didn’t realize how exhausted she was and before she knew it, she had dozed off. She heard a vague knocking, which woke her from her small sleep, and Kali barking. “Hmm?” She didn’t have time to get up before the door busted open, which alerted her senses. Bernie jumped up and about fell over again. Her eyes tried to focus on who Kali was attacking with her love, unable to wrap her mind around the figure. “…Anya?!” Bernie replied as the figure quickly embraced her. “I can’t believe you’re really here,” she said, which was the truth. For months, her mind gave her mean dreams about being able to see her friends again. This must be another one of them.

Anya clung onto Bernie as she embraced her friend for the first time in months. Losing Millie was torturous enough for Bernie. With Anya’s disappearance as well, she could only imagine the hell the woman had been going through. One of the few upsides of purgatory for Anya was having Millie there with her. But that didn’t ease the pain of knowing Bernie didn’t have either of them. “Well, they got me.” She forced out a chuckle between her sobs. That was after her whole ‘they’ll never catch me’ spiel. Truthfully, Anya theorised one of the Nyx kids had overheard and kidnapped her solely for the amusement of proving her wrong. So many thoughts of what she wanted to say to the woman popped into her head at once. “I was so worried. I didn’t think I’d ever— are you okay?”

“That’s fair… It’s probably for the best that they can’t come here. It’s just not safe, though. You don’t thnk you can leave?.” Chloe looked at Anya like she had said the world was going to end in four hour hours. While she had at least known on some level that Anya would not at least get wrapped up in the absolute most heinous of crimes, Chloe had still been pulled into her fair share of minor trouble. Something too out of line would not have surprised her. Outright admitting that a felony wasn’t in the cards was eerily different from typical banter. “Uhm. Millionaires are often pretty interested in the stock market. Maybe your millionaire can teach you.” Chloe was not sure if she was joking, but was trying to roll with the weird conversation.

Anya shrugged nonchalantly. “You never know with this place. Just when you think things can’t get any worse, something else happens. Even Theo is on the verge of a rage spree.” That was a sentence the woman never thought she would say aloud. Between the Venturi cousins, Theo was the usually dubbed the level-headed one. However, following Anya’s impromptu stint in Asphodel, the roles seemed to have reversed and she was the one keeping Theo on a leash. “For someone who has permanent heart eyes for money, I don’t know a lot about it. I’d happily settle for being a trophy wife, as long as I get my own island and can invite my favorite people to live there.”

“I have to agree, you’re pretty adorable. It would be a shame to kill you.” Nelly laughed, amused greatly by Anya’s confidence and her unique personality. It was definitely one of the things Nelly liked best about her. “You weren’t gone long enough for her to understand biological sciences, no. However I do want you to know she picked out a book for you last time we went to the bookstore and I’m not entirely sure what it’s about but it had science in the title.” 

“You need to say that to all the people who’ve threatened to kill me,” she joked. Although those threats were mostly the result of exasperation, rather than veracity. The mention of the book title prompted Anya’s face to scrunch up and a slight grimace to appear. “Now might be a bad time to tell Thalia I’m a fraud. My scientific knowledge doesn’t extend past punnet squares and the function of the mitochondria. Other than that, I’m hopeless. I’ll need to enlist my walking encyclopaedia cousin. He can teach and I’ll provide comedic relief and eat all the snacks.”