𝕚𝕧𝕪; annabeth chase

xiv.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

two weeks. 

almost two weeks passed by, and not once did she relent. not once did she give up.

maddie became a ghost, casting herself between camp and her apartment. she looked everywhere for her brother, checking other known entrances to the labyrinth, old spots that they had once visited, the rivers and beaches, anywhere she could think of.

breaking the news to her mother had been the hardest thing she had ever had to do. the words that percy had not returned were like acid in her mouth, and the tears that formed in her mother's eyes burned holes in the girl's heart.

and not once did she cry.

not when sally jackson held her in her arms for hours, crying for her missing child to her present one. not when maddie caught herself gazing at percy's door, half-expecting him to walk out, bleary-eyed and yawning, as he always was in the morning. not when his laugh seemed to taunt her head at night.

not when silena showed up in her cabin, when she went back to camp, and clung to maddie's frame, almost begging her to let it out. maddie relented, insisting there was nothing to let out about, for her brother was fine, he was alive, just missing, why was everyone making such a big deal?

not when she caught the whispers of other campers passing by, whispers of how the son of poseidon was certainly dead, of how everyone knew it, and chiron was just postponing the funeral.

the girl didn't even shed a tear when annabeth showed up in her cabin late one night, and slipped into her bed without a word, and maddie held her as she cried. the daughter of athena sobbed, wetting maddie's shoulder, and yet the girl remained numb, staring at the ceiling as she rubbed her best friend's back.

maddie became a shell of herself, a ghost of who she used to be. she was a fragmented piece of glass, that had been cracked and cracked time and time again to the point where people almost seemed to cautious to go near her, in fear that she would shatter with one wrong word or touch.

maddie was glass, and people could see right through her, through the denial, and see what she truly thought. that she was banging against a wall that would never break.

nevertheless, she persisted. when she wasn't travelling in search of her brother, or spending time with her mother, she was training. the hours spent in the arena were the only ones that weren't plagued by thoughts of her brother. there, she could swing her katana through the dummies again and again, until her hands were sticky with sweat and her breaths came out short. the sound of the blade hitting straw blocked out the harsh lingering whispers that clouded her brain, at least for a small amount of time.

her sleep worsened, and many nights were spent staring at the ceiling, her thoughts seeming to scream at her through her head.

her eating reduced too, and had it not been for annabeth and silena frequently bringing her meals, maddie would have certainly starved to death by now. eating just seemed so pointless, a waste of time she could be spending looking for her brother.

she waits, too. waits for the news to say 'teenage boy found in river, unconscious but unharmed'. she waits for annabeth to come sprinting into cabin three, her smile bright with a thousand words. she waits for the joyful 'he's back!' call to echo throughout camp. she wats for percy himself to show up in the doorway, eyes shining and lips stretched in his cheeky smile as he laughs and tells her he's sorry, sorry for causing the uproar, sorry for putting her through so much panic, sorry for upsetting mom. and maddie would cry, and hit him, but she would laugh too, and they'd be as they always were, together.