Fragile Heart [Completed]

19

The day before the battle was supposed to happen, everyone was on high alert. Those who were talking spoke only in whispers.

Annabeth had tried asking Rachel if she had seen anything, but all she did was shake her head and say that the fighting was inevitable. Rory was starting to worry about her.

Sometimes she would find her just staring into space, and when asked about what she was thinking about she would startle as though she had been woken up.

By the time the walls had been completed around camp, Rory's muscles ached and her hands were covered in blisters. Not one person seemed to get more than a few hours of sleep, and they had all been working constantly to prepare.

They had been told that reinforcements from Camp Jupiter would be arriving soon. Either they would arrive just before the attack, or a little while after and catch whoever was attacking them from behind.

After everything had been prepared there was nothing left to do but wait. Rory was filled with burning nerves for the comming fight as she paced in the arena.

She hadn't had much time to talk to Annabeth about anything. Her memories would come back in waves but she didn't have time to assess them because of all the work.

She heard footsteps behind her and spun around, sword raised in the air.

"Hi." Annabeth stood at the edge of the circular patch of dirt, resting her weight on one foot.

"Oh," said Rory, clearing her throat. "Hey."

In the silence that followed, Rory tried desperately to come up with a way to express how she felt. She wanted to say so much but her brain wouldn't form the words. She felt stuck. Instead of saying anything, she sat on the floor and patted the ground, inviting Annabeth to sit.

She sat with a slight thud and sighed. In the pale moonlight, her eyes shone like disks of silver. Rory must have been staring staring because she saw Annabeth smirk.

"I wanted to talk to you," she began. "About everything, I guess." The smirk on Annabeth's face fell.

"Rory, we don't have to..."

"Yes, we do. We can't just sit here, in denial, pretending that nothing happened!" Rory let her face fall in her hands. Nothing was going how she wanted it to.

"I just...I need... aggghhhhh!" She screamed in frustration. She felt Annabeth's arm drae over her shoulders and pull her in. Hot tears fell down her cheeks. She wanted to kick, and to scream, and to shout about how all of this was wrong. That stupid goddess was messing with her head! She couldn't think straight.

"Rory, breathe."

"Yeah because you can totally forget how to breathe," she said sarcastically. Annabeth laughed.

Rory wanted to stay in that moment, close to Annabeth, making her laugh, forgetting for just a minute about what was comming. She wished that she could.

A/N: okay so the final few chapters will be comming out shortly. Once again I apologise for the short chapter and for how long these updates are taking. Hope you all have a great day and night!