Loosen up to Breathe Fine {Briar}

The evening was great, the opera house was in great shape, the sky was a pretty black, the stars shone bright. Everything that could be perfect was perfect. Riordan may have been on his own, but now he had a few friends in his life. The boy was doing so much better than he had been doing before. The Opera House was quiet and empty, but a good type of empty. The type of empty that felt relaxing to Rio. This was his home now. He lived in the Opera house by himself. Many people came up with rumors about what was in the Opera House. Monsters crawled around the Opera House at night. That was the biggest rumor. Honestly, it was partly true. The monsters were the horrible memories of the people Rio had lost. His two friend's memories were stuck in the Opera House forever.

Riordan was twirling the winged ring that Navy had left in his fingers. The object was special and one of the only things he had of her. The ring was a beautiful silver and looked to be in good condition. Rio's mind seemed to be suck in the past since Navy and Theo died. The man knew this was a bad idea. His problem was being stuck in the past rather than the present. He's been seeing a doctor for awhile. The doctor's words still rang through his head, "Riordan, the only advice I can give you, is the move on. Just let go. It'll be for the better Riordan. Letting things go may hurt more now, but later you'll feel better."

Riordan shoved the ring into the small box that had a lock on the front. He clicked the key into the box and locked it. That was it's home. That's where the ring would stay from now on because Rio was moving on. Rio was going to live his life to the fullest. There would be nothing bad that would happen. Rio put the the box into a spot in the bottom of his drawer. Riordan softly frowned at himself, there was a guilty pain that seemed to shove into his side like a knife. It was sharp and it felt like it took the breathe out of him. Rio grabbed his side, only to realize it was fake. He shook his head trying to get the feeling of pain out of his side. Riordan finally decided to head to the stage.

The stage and auditorium was empty. Every seat in the house was empty, except it wasn't. Seat 23 was still there. The roses on the fabric a vibrant red color and the names all threaded through it. Theseus and Naveen in a shiny black. Riordan's own name on the side with Navy. Rio smiled and for some reason felt like he wasn't alone or empty. The loneliness seemed to vanish as Riordan stood on stage. He could feel the whispers of the last crowd. The letters were removed from the seat weeks ago. Riordan remembered having to take them to the grave to forever be with the two tributes that had fallen.

Riordan silently began to sweep the stage and all of the dust and little bits of trash that somehow had stayed on the stage after performances. Rio was the only real janitor that Tempus had. He didn't really care. He was in charge of everything, he might as well help clean his projects too. Sometimes when Rio would come out to the stage late at night, Jequirity would play an instrument of sort. The beat would give him something to sweep in time with. His mind went to the idea of smoking a joint. The addiction was still there even if Rio didn't want to do drugs anymore, but the addiction is always strong.

The Opera House was empty, but a sound could be heard from inside. Someone was outside and Riordan could tell. There was some footsteps and maybe someone had stopped outside of the building. His eyes stared at the door, but nothing came in. Suddenly, Rio's memories came flowing in. The memory of the locked room. The memory of silent rooms and an empty house. The memory of his evil parents that had ruined Rio's life. The memory of Body problems. The time when Rio was a chunky kid who had no idea why he was being punished from the outside world. His head shook after the memories came flooding in. That was the old Riordan. This was the new Riordan.

The outside was quite chilly, after all fall was on its way. The coat that he had on wasn't the best piece of clothing that he owned, but it worked well enough to contain the heat that came off of his body. The man looked around and noticed a tuft of blonde hair and that made him think it was Kalyan Casonvik. As he got closer, the tuft of blonde hair was more noticeable. The problem though was that it definitely was not Kalyan. It was someone else who Riordan has never seen before. Rio spoke a little loudly, "Hey, I think you should go home man. It's late and it's cold. Go Home." Riordan didn't know why he was telling this guy to leave, but something about him made Riordan's skin crawl. The boy or man gave off a vibe of someone who would hurt Rio. Riordan stayed put in his spot and watched as the guy was processing what Riordan said. "I need you to leave now. Or I will get the peacekeepers."