"Hold me."
Because that's all she wants, all she truly wants. To be held. To be loved.
"Hold me," she whispers, if almost to herself, although Percy is across the room, his hand on Annabeth's arm.
She gave up herself for them, but was it worth it? Will it ever truly be worth it?
Rachel peers at them through the door of her cave.
They are laughing. Holding hands.
All the things she will never be able to do with anyone.
"How did you get so lucky?" she whispers.
Because for them, life is serendipity, ethereal.
She is stuck in a cold, hard world that she has volunteered for.
But why does she have nothing? Why is she the one alone?
Isn't giving supposed to make you happy?
Love.
It is the one word that is forever stuck in her head.
Love.
She is the oracle, she tells herself.
Dating is illegal.
Love is illicit.
She is destined to spend most of her life in solitude.
Still, as Rachel stares at the couple in front of her, she can't help but feel a pang of something next to her heart.
Jealousy.
She will never have someone feel that way about her.
Rachel Elizabeth Dare is destined to die alone.
