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just rosie saying she didn’t want mari to be mad made everything seem a whole lot less heavy. like maybe they’d be alright. thing would probably never go back to the way they were before, that seemed unlikely. but they weren’t a complete lost cause.

mari trailed after rosie, not really walking together but also not walking alone. things were awkward when you knew you were going to get an explanation which would probably - hopefully - fix a whole lot, but since mari didn’t have that explanation yet, she also did not really have a reason to not be angry. it was weird. and what if rosie gave her a shitty explanation? knowing the other girl it didn’t seem likely, but the thought still popped up.

since rosie had disappeared, mari hadn’t been back to rosie’s room. she hadn’t even helped clean her things out, she’d refused to. not because she had been angry. well, maybe a little, but mostly because she refused to give up on rosie that easily. in hind sight, mari could either explain it as denial or some weird form of sensing rosie was alive. 

seeing the room empty like this was bit of a shock, even though it didn’t look so different from other empty rooms at camp. mari had just been too familiar with how it used to look. she leaned against the now closed door, hesitant to open herself up to rosie too much before the explanation. but as rosie sat down and spoke the first words, she could already feel her walls breaking down despite her best efforts. “i’m so sorry.” she said softly. for someone who knew a lot about losing people, she sure as hades did not know what to say right now. “a mental hospital?” her voice became a bit louder, shocked at what had just been revealed. “what.. why.. how did you end up there?”

rosie was staring at the floor, her eyes stuck on one spot as if finding it interesting, but on her face was a bit of a bitter expression due to the flashbacks of everything that had happened coming back to her. 

she nodded in response, glancing at the blonde girl before looking away again. “uh... it’s... complicated? in a way? and i wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t want anything to do with me after i explain, but...” rosie sighed, mentally bracing herself for what might come after explaining her situation. 

“uh, newsflash: you’re a demigod. when demigods disappear, they’ve usually been killed by some monster.” mari dropped the cool attitude, frustration about rosie’s obliviousness becoming too much. “you were just what, rosie?”

she sighed when rosie finally started to explain a little. this frustration clearly was just a result of shock and lack of information. this was probably not actually the right time to even have this conversation, with mari being this emotional, but they were doing it anyways it seemed. “well, if you’d just.. explain i wouldn’t have to yell.” she said, forcing herself to talk in a more calm manner, but her emotions still shone through. but as rosie continued talking, she realised she might have.. overreacted a little. rosie had a point, this was not the place to do this.

“alright, fine. do you want to do that now? should i come with or..” she trailed off, not sure what rosie expected from her. she wasn’t even sure what the call the other girl. were they still friends? they had a past, sure, but did they have a present? a future? “just.. whatever you want, i guess.”

“nevermind. that was a stupid thing of me to even say in the first place. you’re right.” she sighed, shaking her head and pushing her messy hair back. rosie should’ve known that everyone would think she’s dead, it yet she somehow wasn’t so surprised that it actually happened. 

rosie was exhausted, and needed to shower and sleep so bad. she probably smelled terrible and looked hideous with her bare face and messy hair. it wasn’t exactly a look she wanted the girl she had feelings for to see her in. “yeah, i wanna get this over with. i don’t want you to be pissed at me for some dumb shit i did.” rosie nodded, and started to continue making her way to the hecate cabin, expecting the blonde girl to be with her. 

as she expected, her room wasn’t there anymore. well, physically, the place was still there, but it was now empty, bare and so dusty. all of rosie’s old things were gone and she felt a pain in her chest over how easily everyone had given up on her. “come in.” she told mari quietly, and closed the door once she was in. the brunette stood there for about two seconds, looking around before finally putting her heavy bag down, and sitting down on the bare mattress. 

hearing rosie say her name felt.. weird. a good weird, she’d missed the sound of it so much. she’d believed she would never hear it again, so in some way it felt like a relief. but whatever positive feelings she was experiencing right now, they were drowned out by confusion and anger. betrayal. rosie had thrown her to the side, apparently, just like her father, or her nanny, or her mother. it shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but it had. and that’s why this hurt so bad.

“things to deal with, huh.” mari nodded, sarcasm noticeable in every syllable she spoke. “important things, i imagine. they’d have to be, of course. or else you wouldn’t have lead me to believe you were dead.” she continued, crossing her arms in front of her chest and trying to keep her anger under control. it just made her icy and mean, not less pissed off. “for two years, rosie. two. damn. years.”

her eyebrows furrowed at the sarcasm she received in return. she wasn’t surprised, but also wasn’t feeling that great about it. she knew she had a tendency to look angry all the time recently, but she tried her best to remove that expression off her face. after all, mari did nothing wrong. it was all rosie’s fault. 

“important family things, yes.” she answered, fixing the bag on her shoulder. it was seriously so heavy and she wanted to put it down already. “why did anyone even think i was dead? i never went on a quest in my life, i was just- ugh.” rosie stopped herself before she could get frustrated. 

“i-” she nearly flung her hands. “this entire cabin probably thought you were dead!” she was at a loss for words. how easy was it that somebody came back to life? she didn’t want to ask questions. she just wanted to scream at everybody who’d said she was dead. look it- kim cared for all her sisters. the more the fucking merrier 

on any other given day, with any other given person, mari would’ve returned the camper’s attitude tenfold. she could admit that, yes maybe sometimes, she could be a spoiled brat. but never without being provoked, and someone telling her to not do something when she clearly wasn’t the one at fault here… she huffed, one hand instinctively sliding down the smooth fabric of her skirt, feeling the knife hidden underneath. it wasn’t so much that she felt the need to use it, as much as she needed the reassurance that it was there.

however, from the moment her eyes reached the face of the person she had just bumped into, whatever words she had intended to speak got stuck in her throat. she swallowed them down, together with the urge to either cry or hug the other girl. instead, an icy expression fell over her face as she took the other in. “rosie.” she simply said, coolly. it was a name that she hadn’t spoken in so long, but it still felt familiar on her tongue. what was really an issue was what she should say next. what do you say to a girl who you assumed was dead for the past two years? standing here across from her felt almost too surreal. “you’re back, i see.”

maybe rosie should’ve looked at who bumped into her before she decided to snap and throw a glare at the other person, because as soon as she saw mari in front of her for the first time in two years, the bitter expression slowly disappeared off her face. “mari...” she spoke quietly, her voice trailing off. she hasn’t spoken the name in so long, but was definitely on her mind more than she wanted it to be. 

all kim had been meaning to do was leave the cabin. she’d stayed in for days- barely leaving. she’d wanted to go outside, talk to someone perhaps. she didn’t know why- she just, she just felt like she should. she’d done some thinking, a lot of practice with her powers. nothing special, especially since she had tons and tons of sisters to talk to anyway.

but she didn’t mean to hit someone. she had probably been walking too fast for her own good, and when she hit the person, she stumbled backwards for a bit. “ugh, i-” her head hurt a bit, too, which was fun. she looked up. “i’m- sorry, should’ve watched where i was-“ she took her in. ”rosie?”

she should’ve gotten mad at her- where have you been? i thought you were dead! that sort of thing. rosie had been gone for two years. and she’d assumed the worst, even though nobody else knew. and she’d been sad. because rosie was her sister, for better or worse. not to mention she’d arrived a year after her. she’d been easy-going and friendly, sweet and nice. “oh my gods.” she exclaimed. “i thought you were dead. two years-”

zara didn’t get close to people often. she almost always had a guard up, and didn’t try as hard as she probably should to bond with people. but when she did let people in, she cared fiercely for them. so being left behind was not something that sat well with her. 

as soon as she saw rosie, she headed straight to her, and the way she spoke to her only made her glare back. “are you for real?” she asked, looking rosie up and down with a distasteful expression. “i’m really not going to let you waltz back in here without talking to you. vanishing on me without a word? seriously?”

summer has rushed connie by faster than any summer had before; faced with the last, final campfire, connie was more than happy to get the festivities started. she hoped that this final event would put an end to all the tension with the sword and the infamous quest…she hoped that this would be a clean slate for the camp, an event where camp-halfblood’s slogan would be true: keeping young heroes safe for almost three millennia.

in fact, part of the reason why summer passed by so fast was because connie was so damn busy. even in the current moment, scurrying across camp from the infirmary to the tyche cabin — partially wishing for a good stroke of luck with this campfire, the other half wishing that she didn’t have to ‘work’ during the festivities — she’s so focused on getting to see if she had any good luck in her future, making sure she has enough time to ask her questions and get to her final activity before the evening started –  she doesn’t even see the other girl coming.

the collision makes connie grunt a little, as both girls clearly had their intentions set on getting to a specific destination. she’s about to apologize and open her mouth as a reflex, but the other girls words cut like glass and connie shuts her mouth, ultimately stuffing her apology down her throat. “can i not…what? walk? that’s kind of a stupid thing to ask someone not to do, don’t you think?” her lips purse, and suddenly she spots something on the ground, pointing with her finger, but her eyes are trained on the other girl. “oh, look! you almost forgot something: an apology.”

“can you walk and not bump into people? maybe watch where you’re going? isn’t that what your eyes are there for?” rosie raised her eyebrows at the girl. she wasn’t about to be bitter over something so petty, she never wanted to deal with that kind of this; which is the reason why her attitude always seemed ruder than she anticipated. 

           ophelya’s seen her own fair share of oddities in the decade she’s spent at camp. from all of the spells that have gone wrong in cabin twenty, to the remains of monsters dragged in by campers after a successful quest, she’s close to saying she’s seen it all. in fact, at this point, she’s even ready to admit that seeing ghosts is nothing short of unusual. though, nothing could have prepared her to recognise the silhouette making a hurried beeline towards her, duffle bag in hand. it takes her a second for her mind to register who the person is at first, but once the details come into focus, there’s no doubt in her mind just who the person in front of her is. ‘ oh my gods, ’ she blurts out in a whisper, the stone mortar in her hands suddenly slipping through her fingers and hitting the ground with a short thud. for an instant, the girl’s frozen in her tracks, eyes darting up and down, double checking that she’s indeed standing in front of her sister. the sister she hasn’t seen in two full years. the sister she’s been mourning for those last two years. rosie finally opens her mouth, and ophelya’s half expecting a greeting, or even maybe an apology. an explanation would also do just as much good. instead, she’s met with an uncharacteristically high amount of bitterness and a look she’s never seen her sibling give her before. taking a step back, her eyebrows furrow, suddenly feeling herself get defensive. ‘ can i not what ? stare at you ? rosie, you’ve been gone for two years. i thought you were dead. i genuinely thought you’d gone out into the world and gotten killed by a monster or something. — gods, was sending a single sign of life too hard ? or was i just supposed to wait here and sit pretty until you came back ? ’

seeing her sister again... it felt so weird. rosie couldn’t lie to herself and say that she hasn’t had the thought of never seeing ophelya again, along with her other siblings, but the thought having a family felt so fake throughout her time being locked up somewhere she didn’t want to be. her family were her father and grandfather, and that was it, but they were gone. “you thought i was dead?” she asked simply with a raise of her eyebrows and slight hurt in her eyes, her bitter glare vanishing. 

“Honestly, someone should teach all the half-bloods how to socialize. It’s like a middle school dance in here.” She replies with a roll of her eyes, the girl using her purple nail file to even out her nails. “Oh, you’re too shy to talk to him because you like-like him? Can’t relate.”

“thanks, babes. stay golden.” rosie smiled sweetly at the grey sisters before shutting the door of the cab. she stuffed her a hand in her pocket, whilst her other hand carried her duffle bag, and sighed. the sight of the camp’s entrance was really nostalgic to her, having been here since she was ten years old.

however, the past two years, she was locked away in a mental hospital and had a feeling that everyone in camp would’ve assumed she was dead during the time she had left to visit her grandfather. she didn’t want to, but she made her way into camp, the smile she had on previously turned back into her a frown that wasn’t strange to her, but was definitely strange to her old friends who were used to her old cheerful self. she was walking back into her old life, but she wasn’t the same anymore.

TW: mentions of fire, arson, pyromania, mental hospital, family death, depression.