When Annabeth finally breaks down, the last person she'd expected help from came and comforted her.

Inspired by the song Shattered by Trading Yesterday (Great song by the way, check it out here: watch?v=lGBiqf09tG0). Not a Songfic. Set a couple of days after Percy goes missing. Hope you like it!

Please note: words in italics are thoughts.

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson.

Annabeth

I can't do this anymore, thought Annabeth as she fell to her knees on the beach. It had been exactly 2 days, 4 hours, 58 minutes and 24 seconds since the daughter of Athena had found Percy's bed empty. Where are you Percy? She had been trying to keep herself together, but it was too much. The dam burst, and the tears fell. She had tried many times to convince herself that nothing bad had happened to Percy, but as soon as she realised that Athena hadn't returned her prayers, or the fact that the man in the reception of the Empire State Building was, in fact, just a short-tempered mortal, Annabeth knew something was wrong. She tried Iris-messaging Percy, many times. But even Iris was hesitant in even allowing the daughter of Athena to use Iris-messaging, but even Iris couldn't put the call through to wherever the heck her Seaweed Brain went. He wouldn't just run away, would he? Annabeth wasn't crying, nor was she sobbing, but the tears fell, it ran down her face like a rapid-flowing river.

"Annabeth?" said a voice behind her.

She didn't even bother to wipe away her tears, for she knew who it was. "Clarisse?" she croaked, not even caring if the daughter of war saw her in this state anymore.

Clarisse was not expecting the strong and stubborn daughter of Athena to be like this, but nevertheless, she sat down next to her anyways. The older girl didn't say anything, but the endless waterfalls of tears were still racing down Annabeth's face.

"Look princess, I'm sure we'll find that sea brain." began Clarisse, awkwardly patting her hand on Annabeth's shoulder.

The daughter of Athena's face was still expressionless, but inside, she scowled. She did not need anyone's pity, sorriness or company. All she wanted was to have her Seaweed Brain back, or to at least have some answers.

"Thanks Clarisse," she muttered plainly, not really showing much emotion.

"Look Brain-on-legs (That was what some of the Ares kids called the Athena kids, though they most of said demigods didn't seem to mind the nickname, in fact, some were even flattered), I know that you can beat him up by yourself, but seriously, after you're done with him, I'll make sure he learns his lesson."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, but she couldn't supress a small ghost of a smile that appeared on her lips.

"Look Princess, I know we're not exactly friends," Annabeth snorted at this, "but, well…"

Clarisse seemed to be having trouble saying the next words.

"We – the camp – needs you to be strong so we can find that stupid Kelp head, alright?" she began, but paused.

"Look, I'm not really good with comforting people, and confessing things is really not one of my best traits, but…I also need you to toughen up and be strong."

Annabeth was stunned at her words.

"I mean, it is kind of weird to see the stubborn daughter of Athena crying over some dumb Sea Brain." added Clarisse quickly.

Annabeth smirked at this, actually quite grateful for the daughter of War that she'd even bothered and actually tried to comfort her.

"T-thanks Clarisse." She said, more genuine this time.

For once, Clarisse didn't give her an evil smile or a sneer, but rather, she gave Annabeth a kind smile that said daughter of Athena had only seen Clarisse give to Silena when the two were actually friends.

"Look, I better go, and I think you should too. Chiron's probably looking for us."

Annabeth nodded, though her gaze still lingered on the sea.

"You coming?" asked Clarisse, after 3 minutes of silence.

"Coming." nodded Annabeth in that same, hollow voice she'd been using for the last couple of days.

She quickly wiped away her tears and regained her posture. Her face immediately slipped back to an emotionless stance. She had to stay strong; for the gods, for camp, for her friends, and for her seaweed brain, no matter how shattered she was on the inside.

A/N *Cough, cough* Er...you can take this knife and do whatever you want with this story (Runs of in shame of how terrible this story was). Haha, thanks for reading and hope you liked it despite how bad it was :P.