[1] 𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐁𝐈𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐋𝐋 ― p.jackson ✓

013.

「013. aphrodite kids have got each others back 」

AS ANNABETH pushed barbie to run, she felt her mind swarm with fears. percy should be behind them, he said he was causing a distraction. so where was he? she pushed herself to run, her legs feeling on fire as they ran through the labyrinth, not caring which way they went. just as long as they got out of the damn place, it didn't matter.

the texture of the walls changed as annabeth pushed her to run. but barbie's lips still tingled from the sorrowful kiss and she felt tears form in her eyes. she was pretty sure they were far away from mount st helens and there was still no sound of percy. the two of them had been looking behind them every few minutes to see if there was a familiar mop of black hair. but he still wasn't there.

he wasn't there.

"annabeth," panted barbie as they ran, sniffling slightly, "we need to go back. we need to-"

"we can't barb," responded annabeth, her voice croaky with emotion as she put her hand on barbie's back and forced her to run faster, "don't look back. don't look-"

but barbie stopped herself, turning back and hearing a distant boom. as the loud explosion sounds travelled to them. she saw annabeth stop in front of her, and barbie's blood turned as cold as ice.

"a-annabeth..." she began, "that's... annabeth?"

she turned and saw her best friend with tears in her eyes, just like her, except maybe for different reasons. barbie wasn't sure what she was feeling. she was sad, terribly sad, but that could have been from ananbeth too. the waves of grief and sadness form the both of them were practically unbearable and she didn't know what to do.

but she knew one thing she possessed that annabeth didn't. and that was heartache. she looked back as tears dripped down her grime-covered face and she stumbled to annabeth in a wave of dysphoria, the two of them stumbling through the rest of the labyrinth, having no idea if they'd ever escape or if this was there fate. to die of grief.

cherry adams didn't know whether to be stressed out of her mind or think positive. katie gardener had given her a small task of finishing the strawberry collection, which she'd finished relatively quickly. the whole camp was practically on edge, it'd had been a long time since barbie, percy, annabeth, grover and tyson had made their way into the labyrinth, and they hadn't seen anybody come back yet.

and as much as cherry tried to hide her worry, try to show a large smile on her face, pushing down the unwanted emotion deep beneath the surface, she was starting to crack. her smiles were more forced and no number of small jobs in the strawberry field could keep her mind away from the fact that barbie could be stuck in that maze.

of course, she did worry about the other campers in the maze too. but barbie was one of her closest friends. a weird form of a mother figure. if she didn't make it back...

no, she said to herself, don't think like that. stop it cherry.

that's another person you would've lost, countered another side of her brain, first dad. and now maybe barbie. too much pain.

her face scrunched up and she winced slightly as flashes of her father's death swarmed through her mind. she didn't remember exactly what killed her father, but she would never be able to forget her dad taking one last shuddering breath before he dropped to the floor in front of her. it was the day she buried her old self, old name. the memories of the past stayed with her, but she tried to forget them. she really just-