[2] 𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐍 ― p.jackson

012.

"no singing," cadie insisted, scrunching up her eyebrows. "bad memories."

"it'll take a lot longer to heal your wounds," lee argued as he finished setting down the items the stoll brothers had brought to the infirmary. "you know that, right?"

"lee," layla called from cam's bed. "just let her rest the way she wants to. the salve will do its magic fast, even without dads prayer..." she frowned, "we can't always rely on others to do things, y'know?"

lee nodded, rushing somewhere else. cadie guessed he was trying to find some sort of ambrosia.

"are you okay now?" will asked quietly as he gently rubbed the salved into cadie's arms. "what happened in there? where is..."

where is percy?

"i'm... i'll be ok," cadie replied. "i don't really remember much of the explosion, will. i'll be fine though." she gave him a raised eyebrow (well, the best she could with all the burns and whatever else the apollo kids thought was wrong with her). "are you worried about me, william?"

"you bet i am! you're my sister!" he quipped back.

cadie's face froze. "will-"

"what?" he replied defiantly. "you practically are our sister! so what- your mom is a muse? you live with us and you're just as much a member of the apollo cabin as the rest of us!"

a string of hums of approval came from others within the apollo cabin.

it was a bit overwhelming, actually, to have somebody so sure you were important to them- only for you to realise in a year or so you'd be nothing more than a laurel burning in a fire being pushed into another cycle of life.

she yawned, shaking her head. "thanks guys... really appreciate this." she blinked, looking around tiredly, "can i sleep?"

"you don't need to ask us that, cadie." lee smiled, "get some rest. we'll talk more tomorrow."

the world would crumble and fall, and it'd be all for the screams and cries of a poor girl in denial.

nobody told cadie the consequences of love or friendship. nobody had read her the terms and conditions for the pain and the hurt- they'd assumed she'd live on just fine.

she didn't.

the sick waiting game of the first time shrivelled and died within the next three days until there was a very quick and easy conclusion to it all that went unspoken for the most part: percy jackson was dead.

cadie hadn't believed it back then. she was robotic after her arrival and the infirmary- fueled on delusional and false hope with a rampant rage of denial. she hadn't believed it back then for the sole reason of it being so absurd.

she'd seen percy jackson grow up just a bit- and she'd been there with him. from a snarky and sarcastic twelve-year old who'd slain a minotaur and brought back a single horn to the proclaimed 'lightning thief' that actually handed back zeus' lightning bolt to olympus (because he hadn't actually stolen it) to the kid with a cyclops for a half-brother as gilded gold frames started to crack. she'd seen him crying at sea and had seen his smiles at night.

she'd been there when annabeth had been taken- when all the rage in the world hadn't let percy jackson crumble even the slightest. she'd been through those tears and cried a bit with him- she'd watched him slash and scream and tell her to RUN! at st. helens. it wasn't believable in the slightest to even think percy jackson could just... loose.

that he could just disappear from her life so easily- without her having any say at all.

he might've been a jerk sometimes- maybe a bit unappreciative and in his head a bit too much from time to time, but he was still percy jackson- the kid with a pen as a sword who smelled like the ocean and had eyes like the sea.