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TIME BLURRED INTO MESSY LINES OVER SCRIBBLED PAGES. boundaries crossed, margins deleted, the construct of it was gone.

andromeda didn't know how long she stayed beneath the sky, holding it up. but she eventually got used to bearing the agonizing weight. she figured, as long as she kept her head and body in a certain position, she could manage to not tire her muscles. but holding the position itself was a challenge.

she was exhausted. she tried not to focus on it. it made her feel all the more exhausted. so, instead of fatigue, she thought of food. delicious, delectable dishes lined on tables with white sparkling drinks. then she somehow came to the thoughts of camp. the dining pavillion, the way the glasses gave you your drink of choice, the warmth of the roaring fire. by some extension of the thought of fire, water came into her mind. water. blue and brilliant and beautiful. and ofcourse, then she would go on to remember percy. and the cycle repeated.

her thoughts were a mess. and she couldn't afford to organize them right now. she didn't have control over what she thought because she was so caught up in what she was doing. her mind screamed for her body. her eyes leaked tears of sweat and her bones crumbled for her willpower. because she couldn't lose control just yet. who would take it, if she did?

the aspect of day and night felt unfamiliar to her. the existence of others, it all seemed unlikely in a situation where she had to hold up the sky alone. it felt unfair.

the wound on her shoulder throbbed with pain. she might've been able to stitch up the cut, but thr healing was not complete. and aside from that, the poison from thorn had weakened her. she wouldn't be surprised if she was crushed under weight of it all. in fact, it would be more of a surprise if she survived.

"another mortal?" a voice echoed in the distance. andromeda flinched, she thought she had been left alone.

the way he said it. mortal, he called her. which meant he was a god.

or a titan.

atlas.

she scowled. that was all she could manage to do.

"thorn got two," luke's voiced replied.

"she's weakening." atlas observed. "bring out the other one. give her rest."

"no." andromeda spoke sharply.

she wouldn't let them put annabeth down here. not while she had it under control.

"you are weakening, mortal." atlas spat. "you will fade."

andromeda shook her head. she made an effort to hold it tighter. higher. better. but her body bowed under the weight.

then suddenly, an idea struck her. she could use her magic to add on to the support. so she tried.

magic in her state was as hard to achieve as a compliment from the gods. but she recalled hecate's words. magic comes from emotion. and you are filled with passion. she had said.

so andromeda thought hard. she thought about her days at home with her dad, camping, all-nighters, binge-watching classic barbie movies. she thought of camp, the vast extensive sweet strawberry fields, the long greek columns, her friends all surrounded by the fire. annabeth and jasmine and evander and percy. percy. his sea green eyes and windswept raven hair and his smile his smile his smile. . .

she felt the energy pour into her. drop by drop and bit by bit. and pushed her hands up by the elbows, and suddenly she could hold it better. keep her back straight. her shoulder back and breathe while she did it. she could breathe without her face inches away from the earth.

she breathed fast and heavy, the execution of magic was much more tiring than the simple thought of it. but right now, she needed to be strong.

luke's eyes were wide. he looked at atlas, who surveyed her with only mild amusement.

"who is her parent?" he asked.

"hecate." luke answered.

"she is strong, for a minor goddess's daughter," atlas commented.

if andromeda wasn't preoccupied, she would give him a nice demo. she still glared at him, though.

"and fiesty," atlas smirked.

"should i bring her out?" luke asked.

"no," atlas decided, tilting his head. "let's see how long she lasts."

andromeda was afraid it wouldn't be long.

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"how is our mortal guest?" a male voice boomed.

andromeda flinched, slightly. she had been alone for most of the time she spent shouldering the weight. so this unexpected company was a surprise. her magic had run it's course, and she was back on depending upon her physical abilties again, which where frustratingly limited. her tendons stiffened and her muscles contracted, her bones pressed under the pressure. but she held on.

atlas was here. if she bad the strength to speak, she would definetly cuss him out.

luke knelt beside her. quietly studied her. "she's fading," he said. "we must hurry."

andromeda held on to the sky with more energy. she wouldn't let them put annabeth under here. she wouldn't.

"i'm fine." she whispered, because she didn't have the energy to do more. but luke heard her just fine. "don't bring her back here. i'll handle it."

she couldn't see the expression he had on his face. atlas laughed.

"how touching," he spat. and andromeda heard shuffling of feet. she looked up as far as her sight could go without lifting her head.

she saw a girl in a silver tattered dress, celestial bronze shackles locked around her wrists. she could see wisps of auburn hair to her elbows. her scratched arms were wounded. golden blood spilled from the cuts.

she was a goddess. andromeda knew it from the ichor pouring out from her body. but how could atlas have kidnapped a goddess?

"you heard the boy," said atlas. "decide!"

the goddess remained silent. maybe she was was deciding if andromeda was worth saving. at last, she gasped. her shackled hands forming into fists. "how dare you torture a maiden like this!"

andromeda wondered why she couldn't unbound the restraints from her hands with her magic. but then again, atlas was a titan. maybe he had some god-repellent gear with him at all times.

"she will die soon," luke said. "you can save her."

"no," andromeda breathed out. she fixed her posture a little more, to seem like she could take it. but her knees buckled under the weight, and she gasped a little as her back bent forward to balance. she couldn't even exude her magic. her body would break. she was sure of it. disintegrate into nothing if she put it through more of this agony.

"free my hands," the goddess demanded.

andromeda only heard the chains break. she couldn't even see, since her face nearly met the ground, her body struggling and folding under the weight or the world.

she didn't know what happened next. all that she could feel was light on her shoulder. untensed muscles and loose tendons. and unbent knees and free hands and oh gods the weightlessness on her body was so freeing from the hours spent in exhaustion that she collapsed onto the floor.

and for a fraction of a second, she wondered if the sky had fallen from her hands, but she couldn't think more. she needed to rest. every aspect of herself. her physique, her psyche, she needed a blank line in her mind after hours of scribbled lines in the form of thoughts.

andromeda heard atlas laugh. "you are as predictable as you were easy to beat, artemis."

artemis? he had brought artemis here? andromeda thought with worry. her friends from camp were on their quest to save artemis, and if artemis was here, they were coming here, and if they were coming here, they were walking right into whatever trap he had in store for them. andromeda shivered.

"you surprised me," the goddess said, straining under her burden. "it will not happen again."

"indeed it will not," the man said. "now you are out of the way for good! i knew you could not resist helping a young maiden. that is, after all, your specialty, my dear."

artemis groaned "you know nothing of mercy, you swine."

"on that," the man said, "we can agree. luke, you may kill the girl now."

"no!" artemis shouted.

and usually, andromeda would disagree. she would welcome death with open arms. she thought she had lived enough years.

but now, she wanted to stay alive. she wanted life so she could warn him. help him somehow, because she would figure out a way to. no matter how bad her situation was.

to her surprise, luke hesitated. "she — she may yet be useful, sir.
further bait."

"we have another one," atlas nodded. "dispose of her."

luke thought for a moment. "but she's the better option, sir. he's closer to her. more attached."

"bah! you truly believe that?"

"yes, general. he will come for her. i'm sure."

the titan considered. "then the dracaenae can guard her here. the forcefield we drew out of her own magic, which i suspect she has overused now. the monsters are the best choice to contain her, assuming she does not die from her injuries, you may keep her alive until winter solstice. after that, if our sacrifice goes as planned, her life will be meaningless. the lives of all mortals will be meaningless."

she felt arms curve around her body. her limp, bruised and broken body that she couldn't even carry herself. she was sure it was luke who was holding her. she felt the need to get away from him. but there was little she could do in this half-dead state. so she had no choice but to let him. she let him carry her body to the princess andromeda, she let him lock her in a room. she let him station monsters at her door.

she let him.

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in her dream, she was back in the darkness. it gave her power, gave her consciousness. she sat in the quiet, soaking in the comfort it brought to her.

"hey, sweetie,"

andromeda's face contorted for a second. her mom would never call her sweetie, nor did she have a partner who would call her that. she turned to the voice in confusion. her jaw dropped.

"dad?"

her father was there, his hair flat on his ears and his button up shirt crinkled in creases. he smiled at her.

"dad. . ." she sighed, she stood up, and bolted toward him, planning to hug him, but her body went through his. like he was a projection like he was made of mist.

"i'm not really here," he said, turning to me. "this is just a dream."

"did you know?" andromeda asked with a crack in her voice. she could feel the tears coming. "about mom? about me?"

xander smiled. "you were brought to me in a cradle of crystals, in the dead of the night with only a ploecat for safe-keeping. i knew you were special. you and your mom. i noticed things about her. how she would look sick through the day and energized through the night, or how she glowed in the light of the full moon, how she seemed to exude magic. and when i researched, i found out that she was hecate. like, the goddess hecate."

andromeda's bottom lip quivered. "i miss you,"

he tutted, tilted his head. "i'm watching over you, sweetie. i'm there with you. i see you trying to mend your relationship with the family. i see you fighting for your life. holding the sky. i see it, baby."

and she fell to her knees, sobbed into her palm. the melancholia of all the years flooded out of her eyes.

"i'm sorry," she told her father. "i'm so sorry, for everything that happened to you because of me. for how much of a handful i was. things have been. . .hard, after you, dad." she cried. and she told him everything that had ever happened since he passed away, even though she suspected he knew.

xander never once interrupted her. he listened, quiet and quaint. he sat down in front of her and listened as she sobbed to him about everything. about being born this way, having been raised this way, having to live this way. the days she spent in the waves in a lifeboat, how she survived the sea of monsters. the people she knew, most painful of which was luke, to tell him about that was the hardest part. the way he had changed. it was unlike him. he wasn't made for this. she told him how she ended up here. how she wanted her friends safe and she would do everything she could and couldn't to ensure that.

xander smiled at his daughter. "you are so much more than you realize. so much more than you expect. you undermine yourself. doubt yourself."

"i'm in the lowest tier, dad," andromeda sniffed.

"the lowest tier of the building is the strongest," xander grinned. "it holds all the other tiers. just like you are."

andromeda stayed silent.

"your mom said you wanted help."

"i need her help," andromeda nodded. "to warn the others about not coming here. she hasn't done anything yet,"

xander shook his head. "you don't need her help for that. you're capable, sweetie. you put your all and get the results you want. no doubts, no second thoughts, no turnbacks. just pure power."

"i can't do it dad," andromeda told him. "not in this condition. i need more energy."

"and you can get it," he reasoned. "in these dreams, your energy recharges. your mind conjures these dreams to strengthen you. i'm sure, in one of these, you'll be able to talk to them."

andromeda stayed quiet. she didn't know she was doing this. she thought it was her mom.

"well, i should get going," xander stood. "hecate warned me about the essence of time. but before i do, i will tell you, she did help you. she sent me."

xander smiled, and andromeda wanted to remember it forever.

"will she send you again?"

xander shook his head. "you shouldn't expect that. she told me this brief meeting was a risk in itself."

andromeda's head dropped.

"don't mourn," xander called. "i am not lost from you. i am with you. forever. and even so, you do not need me. your abilities are strong. now you just need to strengthen your belief in yourself."

andromeda sighed.

"i love you."

". . .i love you too." xander began walking away. but he called her one more time.

andromeda turned around to answer.

"tell him." xander said with a smile. "tell him what you need to. he's a wonderful boy, definitely has my approval."

andromeda's eyebrows furrowed. "what do you — ?"

andromeda blinked, and xander was gone. she blinked a few more times, and the darkness depleted slowly.

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andromeda blinked her eyes open. there were splinters on her fingers from the wood, her shoulder wound had reopened, and she found more bruises there than before. where she got them from, she couldn't remember, nor care.

she sat up, combed her fingers through her hair in hopes of untangling it, even if slightly. as she pulled her fingers away, she noticed something in a few of the strands. she drew them forward, craning her neck to examine them.

gray.

streaks of gray hair portruded from her scalp, colouring the strands in silver right to their very end. they were vividly visible against the rest of her subtle hair colour.

she closed her eyes, leaned on the wall. her back was being held together by a thread, her spine, she was sure would snap off any moment, and her shoulders, gods, her shoulders ached. she drew her legs upto her chin. it was cold, here.

here was a cabin just like one andromeda, annabeth and percy had been in last summer when they trespassed princess andromeda briefly. in fact, she was sure that this was where annabeth and andromeda had stayed, because now the moon was high in the sky, courtesy of it's position the winter.

andromeda heard shuffling of feet beyond the door, and with a sliver of hope, she guessed it was annabeth.

luke pushed the door open, stepping into the room with a silver tray which had a bowl, a dish and a glass on top. he sat down on the bed, while andromeda's eyes followed him from the floor. he put the tray down, pushed it towards her.

she squinted at him.

"it's ambrosia and nectar," luke informed. "and some other food, but mostly that so you can heal."

andromeda accepted the food, she might hate him, and that food could very well be poison. but she, right now, couldn't find it in herself to care. she was malnourished and maniacal from starvation. she devoured the food in furious gulps and uneven bites, too preoccupied in consuming it to savour the flavor. she noticed luke staring.

"what?" she asked. "your boss doesn't feed you or something?"

luke scowled. "he's seen what you can do, andromeda." he said very slowly. "and he's impressed. even i can see that. join us. you will be granted things better than you could ever have imagined."

andromeda grimaced, finishing off the last of her nectar soup. "very convincing, thanks."

"this isn't a matter of jokes," luke said sternly. "i'm serious. your contribution will be rewarded with twice the effort you put in. your powers could be elevated to the state of which will make your enemies cower. your name will be respected. known. heard. join us."

andromeda pushed away the tray. she sighed. "with all things that are happening now, luke, i'm not sure you even knew me." she wiped her mouth clean. "because if you did, you'd know that i have no desire to prove myself to others. i don't give a damn what anyone else thinks. you know why i listened to you most of the time, despite not caring for anyone else's opinion? because you weren't just anyone else. you were more than that to me."

luke's gaze softened. just for a moment, before he was a statue again. "then listen to me now."

andromeda shook her head. "i used past tense, luke. you still aren't anyone else, though. you're now someone else. someone else who was supposed to never go away. but you did. so now, stay there."

luke sighed. "i'm trying to help us, andromeda. the gods are narcissistic. they don't care about us, their own children. the titans are a higher power! they can help us. our cause."

"and you truly think they will?" andromeda laughed humorlessly. "what do you think will happen once you've brought kronos back into power?"

luke remained silent.

"are you silent because you don't know? or because you can't reveal your master's plans to the enemy?"

"titans will glorify us." luke held up his chin. "those of us who were smart enough to join them, atleast."

"smart," andromeda scoffed. "do me a favour and get lost, luke. i don't have the energy for this shit."

he stood up, which, to andromeda brought subtle surprise, she didn't expect him to listen. he picked up the tray and turned to the door.

"i thought you could make good choices, andromeda." he spoke finally. the door clicked open, and then close behind him.

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oh my gosh guys we crossed 1k.

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