𝑾𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑽𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔－ 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧

𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏

I 017. I

𝑾𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑽𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔

❝ lifeline ❞

     SHE COULDN'T HIDE HER SMILE.

Percy had given up immortality. She fully believed it was because he couldn't leave his mother and Paul, and she completely understood. She would've never left them either.

Annabeth, Ariadne, and Percy were on their way out when Percy spotted Hermes in a side courtyard of the palace. He was staring at an Iris-message in the mist of a fountain.

Percy glanced at the two girls. "I'll meet you guys at the elevator."

"You sure?" Then Ariadne studied his face. "Yeah, you're sure."

Annabeth pulled her toward the elevator at the end of the bridge. Ariadne noticed the blonde frowning, tapping her foot while she waited for Percy. The brunette knew something was itching her, and it was most definitely Luke.

Ariadne bit her lip and rubbed her thumb over the amethyst ring on her finger that seemed to never break in any fight or battle—she loved it, though. Her hand moved to the industria piercing in her ear, making sure it was till intact, before pulling her hand away.

"Ari," Annabeth murmured next to her, "how did you do it?"

She glanced over. "Do what?"

"Live with the fact that Luke wasn't there anymore. That—that he was gone. How did you do it?"

It was quiet between them for a few minutes.

Truly, Ariadne didn't know how she had done it all those years. Her whole life it was always being confident she could save someone, but when it came to Luke, she dropped it. She was so quick to say 'I hate you' and whatnot. And honestly, every second she spent wondering if maybe if she had tried harder like Annabeth then he would've been saved.

And those regrets lived rent free in her head.

Finally, sho spoke: "I didn't, really." Ariadne shut her eyes tightly. "At some point I stopped trying because I somehow knew there was no way he was still there, that our Luke was really gone. But now... I don't really now how I did it. I don't think I can anymore."

Annabeth's grey eyes glazed over. "I don't think I'll be able too."

Ariadne squeezed her hand. Her thumb ran over the blonde's knuckles in a comforting way. Annabeth was her sister. Maybe not by blood, but they had been through too much not to feel that way, and it hurt her to see her strong friend that way.

"I don't expect you to," Ariadne muttered. "I don't think anybody does. But I'm here, Annie. And that may not be enough, but I'm here."

Annabeth gave her a soft smile. The blonde pulled her into a tight hug, and they stood there for a moment, soaking in each other's feelings of despair and guilt for the boy that had helped raise them for years.