Goodnight Moon ↣ P. Jackson + A. Chase

2.19

As someone that's lived in New York for the past couple of years that she didn't care to count, Kassandra was awfully familiar with things like crowds or all sorts. There were subways and streets, parades and school, there were the crowds at camp -- all sorts of places -- but this, this place with a giant party for no real reason, was not the kind of crowd that she liked. 

She was all for celebrating success when it was warranted, but this quest wasn't call for celebration. People had died, Bianca and Zoe were dead, and she was not just about to party with a bunch of people that were debating killing her friends. 

No, Kassandra was sore and tired and she just wanted to be away from here. 

(it had everything to do with the fact that she was surrounded by gods, surrounded by the beings that she despised, begins that ruined her life and turned her into some sort of creature that couldn't move on or let go, some sort of thing that stuck and held tight, that didn't care for the world around her as a whole because she would watch it burn and crumple if she had the option of getting rid of them.)

Kassandra had no love for the gods and she didn't want to pretend to. 

So at the first possible moment, she left. Just straight up walked out the door into the brightly light streets of Olympus that seemed to pick up onto the party mood as festivities began to spread. 

Stood in the inner courtyard that they had landed in, Kassandra breathes deeply, tossing her head back with closed eyes. There was a horrible pressure behind her eyes and she couldn't tell if it was a growing headache or if it was that stupid precognition. 

Slowly, she opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry at the edges, curling with smoked. The streets were empty, silent, but she could hear rapid talking around her, healing hymns and shouts for bandages. She could see blood drops and splatters on the roads. 

"No," she snarls, snapping her head to the side and wiping through the air around her as if it would chase the image away. "These damn visions are getting old." 

When she opened her eyes again, everything was back to normal as her senses were flooded with sound and blurring people as they moved. 

"I didn't think you would leave so quickly," Annabeth's voice calls out to her. The girl comes to a stop at her side to join her. 

"I didn't think anyone would notice." 

"Of course I would notice you leaving," she says it like it's the simplest thing. 

Despite herself, she smiles, facing the blonde. Grey eyes were already watching her already, brighter than before -- alive again with that spark of genius and knowledge that was uniquely Annabeth's. 

She reached out, gently touching the strand of silvery grey mixed into the blonde at the front. "I'm glad you're okay, Beth." 

"Yeah, me, too," she says. "I was worried when you stood between Percy and Atlas that you weren't going to move." 

A humourless laugh escapes her. "I wasn't. I had a dream of him killing me. Instead of moving, he just went and tore right through me," she admits. "I guess... I guess everyone was right. There are just some things you have to let go of and move on." 

"You don't have to move on if you don't want to," Annabeth says, defensive on her behalf. 

Smiling, she lets go of the bits of hair that she held her by. "I know, but I think I might want to try. Apollo could have chosen not to answer me today. I prayed for his help twice and he answered both times... maybe I might have been holding on to the past in all the wrong ways," Kassandra admits. "But that doesn't matter. You... Gods, you're so brave, Annabeth. You held up the sky! And for so long! I just... I'm so, so sorry that I couldn't get to you in time. I should have been faster--"