"Annabeth, I'm sorry, but you have to understand." Thalia's voice was beyond tired, beyond exhausted, and beyond heartbroken.
Her choice to become a hunter wasn't just based on a selfish bias that Annabeth could only see. Thalia wanted to postpone the prophecy, to allow time for the demigods to prepare for the child of the prophecy.
"You left me and now you're leaving me again. We were supposed to be a family." Annabeth's words were watery and hard all at once, some savagely slit throats without remorse while the others smoothed rocks in gentle waves.
The whirlwind of words weighted on Thalia's silver tiara. They buried themselves in the seams of her silver jacket like a rabbit running for shelter from a big, ugly fox.
"Annabeth, please just listen to me. I'm not abandoning you." Her words were sincere, burning annoyance into Annabeth.
The blonde's posture straightened as if her spine had been replaced by a ruler. Her skin prickled with rigid goosebumps, brought forth by her oddly sudden serene anger. Her gray eyes soaked in the ice of a tundra and burned in the core of the sun. Thalia hit just the wrong nerve.
"No of course you're not. Maybe I'll go and ask Luke to go get ice cream next weekend. Or how about I call my mom and dad for a family game night? Certainly they'll be available because they definitely didn't abandon me." Her words turned white with heat through her gritted teeth. Each syllable was a stab wound to Thalia's heart. The conversation was a mess.
"That's not fair, Annabeth, and you know it." Thalia's voice deepened with the bubbling of frustration.
"No, Thalia, what's not fair is you joining the hunters and leaving me once again." Thalia didn't miss the rawness of the words Annabeth had choked out, like it was an impossible struggle to even think about them. Annabeth was in a turmoil of emotions and none of them were good.
"Annabeth you don't need me anymore. Not like you used to. Look how close you and Percy have gotten." Thalia's words were like a fresh blanket of snow, soft and gentle.
"That doesn't mean I don't miss you." Annabeth half-sobbed. She felt like Alice going down a never ending rabbit hole. She felt miserable and even more miserable when she looked at Thalia's coat and crown. Thalia should be wearing orange, not silver.
"We'll always be a family." Thalia pulled Annabeth into a hug and didn't let go.
She was here. She wasn't abandoning her. She'd always be here.