"You need to take a break."
The red head stood in the door way, leaning against the frame. The sharp glare of sunlight shadowed her face from view though her wild curls gave off a slight, almost coppery sheen.
Rachel crossed her arms defensively over her body; her voice conveyed her iron will. She wouldn't let Annabeth work herself to death, not in the state she was currently.
The cabin was desolate except for the two. The wind outside whistled in the windows and the unseasonably chilly air crept its way to the bare arms of the blonde.
"Rachel, I found a new lead. I-I can't stop. He wouldn't for me." The last part was whispered, filled with too much hurt and sorrow to be turned into a louder volume.
Her body was slumped over her desk, exhaustion reeking from every part of her. The blonde curls fell in greasy clumps on her head in the way fall leaves leaves held to a tree- just barely hanging onto their original state.
When was the last time she showered?
"Annabeth, you working until you're just dust won't bring him back."
Rachel caught the glimpse of sadness and fresh tears brewing in her stormy gray eyes just before Annabeth turned her head the other way.
"I know." Annabeth laced her words with her overbearing emotions that were in a constant rush. "I don't think he's ever coming back."
She was hopeless, in utter despair at the lost of her best friend and boyfriend. The world wasn't a world anymore, it was a savage black hole that'd eat anything good until all that was left was everything bad. There was really no point in dragging the search out any longer, he was gone. Just like everyone else in Annabeth's life.
She laughed bitterly to herself at the thought of all those who had left. First it was her dad. Then it was Thalia and Luke, a family that loved her for who and what she was and a family she loved equally back. Percy had been the constant she needed and now he vanished.
Her laughs quickly dissolved into sobs.
Rachel was quicker than lightning in wrapping her comforting arms around her friend. She didn't mind when Annabeth stained her shirt with tears or when her runny nose left an ugly trail on the back of her sleeve.
"I miss him and he's not coming back. Why does everyone abandon me?"
Her voice was like a child's- innocent and questioning, truly wondering why this was happening to her.
Rachel realized the significance of this- Annabeth let down her pride for her. Annabeth stopped caring what Rachel thought and broke down every window, every wall and let the floodgates run their horribly long coarse. Annabeth was in so much more grief than she originally imagined.
"No one ever stays." Annabeth's voice was the sayings of a ghost, words of another world that haunted the living soul.
"I'm here. He'll be here soon, too." Rachel told the blonde, not sure herself if the words would ring true.
Neither of them left the Athena Cabin for a while.