SANITY; heroes of olympus

01.9

"So darlin', darlin' stand, by me, oh-oh stand by me, oh stand, stand by me, stand by me." The lyrics left her lips softly as they swayed gently, back and forth, back and forth. They were wrapped in a hug—something that had once been. A moment frozen in time. "If the sky, that we look upon, should tumble and fall, or the mountains, should crumble, to the sea, I won't cry, I won't cry, no, no, no I won't shed a tear, Just as long, as you stand, by me."

Andromeda Storm enjoyed thinking of the past, back when things had been so much more simple. Back when she had been just a girl who had gone on a few quests...back when Adonis Storm was still alive.

"You can't keep doing this to yourself, Ro."

His voice was like a breath of fresh air, it was her relief. He was her relief. Her breath of fresh air. Her happy pill. He was one of the reasons she was staying sane, why she had her sanity still. But he was right; she knew that. She knew she couldn't keep dreaming him up, because everytime she did he was there. He was really there—dead or not. She could feel his skin beneath her fingers, the beat of his heart in his chest, the sound of his voice in her ears, the feeling of his breath against her skin. He was really there, although she didn't always understand how, but he was there. He was with her, and even though it did give her some relief, it also left her with more pain afterwards.

Andromeda shook her head as she dropped it down onto Donnie's shoulder. A heavy sigh left her lips as his hands rubbed up and down her back.

She whispered, "I love you."

"I know."

"And I have to let you go, I know that. But I don't want to."

Donnie nodded as he held her tighter to him. He could feel the gentle shake of her shoulders and the slight heave of her chest. It broke his heart to see her like this, breaking apart, barely holding on. He knew his sister like he knew his own mind. He knew how she blamed herself for not saving him, he knew she had done it after Castor, after their mother, after Bianca di Angelo. Her fatal flaw was a saviour complex after all. She felt major guilt whenever something went wrong, and even more when it resulted in a death. And on top of that all, she had survivor's guilt. Andromeda Storm had seen so much in her life, and now with everything new going on, she was realising there was a lot more to it than what she originally thought.

With that in mind, she pulled away from her brother as Stand By Me played in the background. She looked her brother in the eyes, and spoke, "Are you going to tell me what's going on, or am I going to have to force it out of you?"

His head dropped forward with a heavy sigh. "I wanted you to find out on your own."

"When, Donnie? Huh? When someone got hurt because of something I didn't know? When, Adonis?"

"I couldn't, okay? I was told not to."

"By who?"

"Apollo. And dad. I remembered just before New York, and they told me that I couldn't say anything, that you would have to find out in your own time."

Andromeda pulled away from him as if he had burned her. Her face scrunched up and shrunk into herself. Tears welled up in her amethyst eyes as they darted away from Donnie. "You knew." Her voice was full of hurt, and betrayal. "You knew. You knew what was going on, and you didn't tell me."

"I couldn't."

"There are thousands of things we shouldn't do because we're told, but we still do it!" She yelled, her face red. "You lied to me. Please, Donnie, please just tell me. I can't—I can't keep doing this. Just...please. You don't have to tell me everything, just something, something that helps, that makes sense."