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────── ↶*ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊ- ──────
annabeth feels her insides shrivel up.
time seems to slow as she freezes, staring at the spot where maddie had stood not mere seconds ago, her heart beginning to beat frantically in her chest.
she immediately goes to the worst case scenario, being annabeth, that maddie has left them once again, that her whole 'slowly coming back to them' was simply a façade to earn their trust, so she could slip through their fingers and return to her mistress, leaving annabeth with a broken heart once again.
she tries to move, but it seems her body has forgotten how to function, and she simply stands there, her friends in a panic as they escape the clutches of the fuming hercules. annabeth pays them no mind.
she had been stupid, so very foolish, to even think for a second that maddie had come back to her, even if it was just a glimpse. annabeth had been so confident in thinking she had managed to weaken the puppet that gaia had created, that she had somehow managed to do as apollo had told her to do.
what had the god been thinking? maddie was dead, dead and gone, and not even the work of the most powerful being could bring her back. what could the girl with all the hope in her heart, plus a single kiss, have done? magically snap maddie out of her trance?
some little part of annabeth had hoped so, and in all the fuss she had somehow let that little, naïve part of her take over her brain, filling it with all sorts of nonsense that she had finally gotten her girl back.
it is only when percy has to physically come over and shake annabeth, does the girl finally snap out of her nightmare. she looks up at percy's confused face, realizes by his moving mouth that he is trying to speak to her, and manages to barely snap to attention.
". . . have to get going!"
annabeth is confused, not to mention a little angry, that percy has failed to notice that they are one less person than they had been when the ship had set. she lets her face fall into a frown, letting her emotions be known. for some reason, this only further confuses percy.
"what's the matter with you, annabeth?" he says.
annabeth almost loses it then, but manages to compose herself slightly. "me? what's the matter with you, percy? have you gone completely blind? can't you see—mads is gone!"
percy pauses, an eyebrow creeping up. "uh—what?"
annabeth pushes past him, stalking over to where she and maddie had stood not minutes ago, gazing out across the sea. "look—she's gone! we were finally getting her back, and then she left us. she's gone again."
annabeth can feel the tears begin to well up, and forces them down again. she would not crack, not here, not in front of everyone.
percy's face has still not changed from his confused look. he is looking at annabeth like she has gone mad, and that makes the girl even more frustrated.
