ANNABETH CRIED.

Not the lady-like, subtle, soft kind of crying, the one you saw beautiful girls in sad, soppy romance movies do, but full-out screaming, shrieking, sobbing, runny-nose, kind of crying.

For once, the smart, seemingly unbested, Annabeth Chase, let the facade of being brave, strong and undeafetable, fall, and cried with no restraint, whatsoever. That was all she had done in the last few months: cry and cry and cry some more. It made her feel utterly weak and trivial; she had survived a war for crying out loud, held the sky, bested the worst of the worst the world had to offer, and here she sat, crying her damn freaking eyes out over a boy.

But, then again, he wasn't just any boy.

He was Percy Jackson.

The saviour of gods and defeater of monsters. He was a hero for so many reasons, many of which didn't matter to her. Feats were great and all, but all she wanted was her seaweed brain. Her clueless, loving, handsome and kind sea weed brain. The boy who made her laugh and fall in love with him over and over again with even the littlest of things.

Most of the time Percy had been missing, she had hidden herself away in Cabin Three, buried deep in blankets and sweaters and the thought of him and tears; it was her safe haven: free from pitiful and knowing stares, free from the life without him. Here, she could hold onto him as vividly as anywhere. It was the place she felt closest to him.

And Annabeth had never been a person of weakness, her fatal flaw would never allow it. But when it came to Percy, her whole world spun out of control and she was thrown into a blizzard, a hurricane, a storm of such magnitude and omnipotence, she was unknowing and it contradicted her very existence. He was the centre of that storm, the calm she had to find and hold onto, and whenever he was gone and out of her reach, she was lost in a never-ending state of cold.

Even the name alone made Annabeth's heart ache with such ferocity, she snapped at anyone who dare say it. She missed him so much she wanted to just scream and cry; but, she was not the only one. The atmosphere in camp had changed drastically; an essential part was missing after all. He was brother, friend and leader. A personality that made the camp, camp. He was the kind of person who would take on every possible burden, just so no one else would ever feel the responsibility to.

And the thought that that person was gone, was the worst foreboding; she would be alone again, just like always. One after one, the people in her life had been snagged away from her; Luke, Thalia, her father, her brothers. Then Percy came into her life and mended what was left of the daughter of Athena. He had given her a chance to come to life.

And when he first went missing for those two horrifying, unbearable weeks, she had felt lifeless once more. And when he had come back, the relief, the utter happiness of seeing him alive, seeing him coming back to her, had been the most satisfactory feeling. And now... he could truly be gone; this time the thought of her wasn't going to stop him from finding someone else, someone better. This time the thought of her wouldn't drive him back to her, because she did not exist in his mind anymore.

The door creaked open and Annabeth jumped; a beautiful girl stepped into her accommodation, kaleidoscope eyes curiously sweeping across the scene before her.

"Annabeth," Piper McLean stated upon seeing the blonde girl sat on a messy bunk. Annabeth wasn't sure what her thoughts on the daughter of Aphrodite were, or her companions for that matter. Lea Valdez seemed too much of a goofball to cause any serious trouble, but Jason Grace earned her suspicion and slight irritation easily; after all, he could very well be a reason of why Percy had disappeared.

Annabeth scrambled to stand, desperately wiping her eyes and setting a smile on her face, "Wh- What are you doing here, Piper?"

"A few Athena campers directed me here," Piper answered, shrugging and walked around the cabin, eyes sweeping through the room, "Is this his cabin?"

Annabeth was taken aback by the girl's blank curiosity, but she nodded nonetheless. "Is that him?" Piper strode through the room, eyes falling on the pictures that lined up on the dresser. Annabeth nodded silently.

"He's cute," Piper conducted after inspecting the pictures. "Yeah, good thing too; he can be quite dense," Annabeth chuckled and Piper joined in as if having had experienced it first hand.

"This Percy guy seems like someone to meet."

"He is."

They drifted off into silence.

Piper couldn't help but admire the beautiful setting of the cabin; it was so peaceful, even though it was evident something was missing, or in this case, someone.

"What if he's found someone else?" Annabeth suddenly asked, "I mean, it's not that unlikely. If- When we find him, I might still have lost him, you know? He still won't know me, us, Hades he probably doesn't even know himself. He would be back, but not really back."

Piper frowned in bitter distaste; she knew what it felt like to be forgotten, or also to know someone - or in her case, think you know someone - and for them to not know you at all. She knew exactly what Annabeth's fears felt like when realised.

"We'll find him," Piper began, a stern look directed at the demigod, "and when we do, everything will turn out just the way it's suppposed to."Piper sent the broken hearted teen an encouraging smile and left to give her space; she felt as if she was intruding a sacred place.

Annabeth fell back with a loud sigh, feeling a weight sit on her heart, trying to crush it into powder, so no pieces would even be left to stick back together.

I'll find you, you insufferable idiot. You just have to stay alive.

But, was it that easy? When was anything ever that easy? The Fates just didn't have that word in their vocabulary. And the gods didn't have the word, 'helpful' in theirs. Letting their children save their asses, because they were too idiotic to do anything.

"What did I do to deserve this?" Annabeth asked aloud, but as expected, no answer was received.

Annabeth groaned; she loved Percy so much, all she wanted was for him to be laying beside her, smiling that little mischievous smirk of his and staring into her eyes with those beautiful sea green ones of his, the ones she wanted to stay lost in forever; she wanted him to hold her tight in his lean arms and tell her he loved her and that everything would be okay now. The thought of having that, made the thought of living in this terrible world just a little bit more bearable.

But, of course, first and foremost, they were demigods, and because of that, they were apparently the only people capable of saving this big chunk of earth they lived on.

To get to doing that though, she would have to save Percy first. They couldn't save the world without the doofus, now could they? And, to add, they would be together again no matter what; damn anyone who stood in her way.

As long as we're together, seaweed brain.


disclaimer: I do not own pery jackson

so this is a re-written version of 'the lost seaweed brain', which, surprisingly, didn't make me cringe that much, unlike my other stories. review your thoughts :)

-flaminia