"Hazel?" It was barely a whisper. "wh- you- you're alive!" I ran over and gave her a bear hug before everything went blurry for the tears. "how?" i said, letting go. "why didn't you tell me?" she looked down, riddled with guilt, so I squatted to catch her eyes. "Hazel, please tell me." "Don't look at me like that." she said, suddenly very defensive. "like what?" "Like that! Like I'm a child who needs protecting from all the woes of the world. I'm the youngest, not an baby." Her voice raised a little. "You're right," I agreed, standing up again, now looking slightly down at her. I adjusted my tone to be more serious and authoritarian "Hazel. Tell me what happened." She almost looked surprised at my abruptness, but she was right, she's not a little girl anymore. Hazel sighed; "okay."
"When my dad received King Ares's first letter threatening my life over a 'contract', he wanted to do everything to keep me safe and hidden but Persephone talked him out of his crazy plans pretty quickly. We were kind of stuck for a while. Then the second letter came. This time it had Nico's name on it too. We knew King Ares was ruthless and obsessive, he wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted or all three of us were dead. But giving up the border would be suicide, we couldn't."
I watched her face change and tighten in anguish and pain from the memory, then slack and loosen in futility and hopelessness. I could see, crystal clear, that Hazel was just as heartbroken as the rest of us from everything that had happened. She was too young to bear this. All three of them were, even Bianca.
"It was Bianca's idea, though all of us had thought of it at least once, she was the only one brave enough to say what had to be done. so we caught the assassin, faked our deaths, didn't even go to our own funerals, and haven't seen each other since. She would've made a great queen, but we can't go back."
Hazel finally looked me in the eyes, only to say the most heartbreaking thing I have ever heard. It only made it worse that the gold in her eyes was shining and glowing under the tears threatening to escape her eyes. "I just hope they're both alive, because it's been so long and I don't even know" And she shakes with sobs. I can't bear it, Hazel was always like a little sister to me. We'd always been closer than cousins so it hurt to see her so scared and sad, so, so sad. I hug her close and tight.
She shouldn't have to worry about this.
Man, am I gonna make that bastard king sorry.
"Do you want to get the others?" I ask quietly, after she stops shaking. "yeah" she sniffles. So I take her hand and we follow the direction where Frank was dragged off by the annoyingly gorgeous what's-her-name.
We walk for a while before hearing the two of them laughing together behind some tree or other and I am quite literally, overcome with jealousy before remembering how much frank is in love with Hazel; this information does nothing to sedate the snakes in my stomach. They whisper insecure nothings into my head, and though I can't quite hear what they're saying, just having a bunch of snakes in your gut is enough to make anyone feel disgusted.
I clench and unclench my left fist, the other one is holding Hazel's hand. We're walking towards them and I'm actually about to give Frank the death stare of his life, but I see her first. She laughs a beautiful laugh with her eyes closed and her shoulders shaking a little. her hair falls loosely on her shoulders and her soft hands clutch her ribs. I start to think: "she has no right to look so- so- so..." But I don't know if I can think right now. Hell, i don't know if i can breathe right now! She's laughing like she thinks whatever Frank said was the funniest thing in the world, I almost don't notice how it's too restrained and just too quiet; I know it's fake. It's the laugh of someone who laughs, not because somethings funny, but because the people around them need to know that they are safe enough to laugh... even if they're not.
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A/N:
Sorry for the wait! -at least it wasn't longer than last time! : )
I know this chapter wasn't as long though, so I'm jumping straight into the next one! also, sorry if the writing style changed a little, I'm currently in the midst of the 'Shatter Me' series and Oh. My. Gods.
sooooo now i have a WIP Warnette playlist (officially my 30th playlist on spotify!) I might share it in a link if i ever end up doing a Warnette OneShot or fanfic.
(IWTBTFYFHILW... IYK,YK)
anyways,
HYDRATE OR DIEDRATE PEOPLE <3
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Royal Brambles, A Percabeth fantasy/Royals AU (my first fanfic)
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