"Say something, I'm giving up on you"

Max didn't see Nora across the bridge, or maybe it wasn't that he didn't see her, it was that he trusted her capability. He didn't breath a word as his ax passed through a monster in front of him. Sweat beaded across his forehead, drenching his chocolate hair. It was when his eyes averted the blazing sun that he happened upon her. Nora's hair and body was slick from the fight. Then, he had caught her gaze. As she hesitated, for a millisecond, her sword was knocked out of her grasp. It was then that she refused to look at him, snarling at the monster in front of her. Max could feel his heart catching fire.

"I'll be the one, if you want me to"

Nora seemed inappropriately fearless with the karpoi in front of her. It reminded him of when he first met her; when his friend had hit her with a pea in the Dining Pavilion. She had been furious. Her eyes - a deep brown - hadn't lacked any more anger than they did now. Surprisingly, it made him want to kiss her more than anything else.

"Anywhere I would've followed you"

It was only at this point did Max realize he wouldn't be able to cross the bridge in time. At least not with all the monsters in the way. Speaking of which, a cyclops lumbered towards him, armed with an iron club.

"Say something, I'm giving up on you"

The next time he looked, he froze. A shiver of terror ran through his back. Fearless was what she always was, but her eyes were panicked, her legs were pressed against the edge of the bridge. She held something shiny out at the two monsters surrounding her. A beautiful dagger, with her name carved delicately into it. It would be difficult to see it from where he stood, but he knew it like he did her. After all, he had been the one to give it to her when he had asked for something more than her friendship. There was no surprise when she had declined. But it didn't stop her from being friends with him, or from calling him handsome, or from telling him he was more important to her than anybody else, or even from kissing him before the fight. He had no doubt if he asked her now, she would say yes, but he hadn't. At least not with the mayhem. Now, the dagger looked dull and ill when before it was sharper than Einstein's wits. It lacked the will to fight.

"And I am feeling so small"

Nora knew she was done for when a nemean lion had taken one side of the karpoi. No matter how tiny she felt, she refused to let out anything other than a deep breath of air. Sweat drenched her body, masking the pain with nothing more than a thin layer of hope. It swirled in her stomach, either ready to disappear or set off fireworks like the forth of July. Then, with the dagger in her hand, she flung it as hard as she could, as best as she could.

"It was over my head"

The dagger passed delicately over the karpoi's head. A flicker of disapproval went through the inhuman thing's face. It was as though she had wanted it to miss completely. But it had slipped out of her hands, and injured instead, a demigod that fought a cyclops behind them. A wave passed over her as she heard the crunch of bones from the child behind her eyelids. It felt like she was drowning, that she had lost her breath and there was no way to get it again. Nora could feel the coldness and fatigue wiping through her body as she opened her eyes without any real hope.

"I know nothing at all"

As though she was a kid walking carefully along a curb, she hoisted herself so she could stand on the ledge. The wind tore and fought at her, making the orange jacket she wore useless. Nora was never afraid of falling off the Rock Wall, but she had never been more afraid of heights than that day. The water below her waved a hello, or maybe it was a goodbye.

"And I will stumble & fall"

Then, the lion had jumped at her, with grace and hopefulness. And she slipped, a reckless feeling paving it's way into her gut. The sun shimmered a real farewell.

"I'm still learning to love"

It was then that Max had the sudden feeling of a mistake. Then he could see that whatever that mistake was, it was nostalgic and terrible. He remembered back at camp, when Nora had grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him into the empty Hera cabin. It had been damp, and cold. But when she had kissed him, it had made his insides turn into hot mush. There was nothing soft and silky about it. It was just the way Nora acted, that was why he liked her. She was straight forward, and didn't spare him from the truth. He remembered, it wasn't until five minutes afterwards that he could feel his hand again, she had gripped it so tight. "Give Michael some lip for me." She told him, as he had stood paralyzed. But from the way she looked at him, and held him, it meant much more. He wished he could have responded before she said, "Go on soldier, bring back a prize."

"Just starting to crawl"

He knew it was wrong of him to wish that they really knew what they were doing. Maybe, by now they wouldn't have to be taking baby steps any more. But that didn't matter now, not when he noticed the lack of his sunshine. It crawled up his back and shattered his heart when he saw the lioness was staring into the cold water below. He couldn't see much more from where he stood. After all, she had to be fine. Being a demigod was tough work, and there had to be something good in his life, right?

"Say something, I'm giving up on you"

Even with the thoughts stabbing his brain, there was still convincing evidence. The cyclops aimed, ready to swing at him, but he couldn't hear the presence of Nora in his heart. Max started to race immediately, towards the distraught lion, towards the grain spirit with a sickening whole wheat smile, and towards the glimmering knife. Tears began to sting at his eyes, he was loosing hope and quickly. The gods did nothing to stop the blow of disappointment and anger.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't get to you"

And then he stopped. He just stopped. Half way there he could see the glimmering dagger. Tears raged at his eyes, shining with his lost hope. There was nothing left in Pandora's Box for him. It felt like Tartarus was climbing out of his throat as his lip trembled. His posture dropped, sweat sticking the t-shirt to his back, the one that Nora had snickered at him for. The laces on his feet were untied and dirty along with the rest of the shoe which she had offered to clean up for him. He started to resent himself for having wobbly legs when she only had a knife in her hand.

"Anywhere I would've followed you"

Max should have never let her wonder all the way across the bridge. If she was going to die, then he would die with her. Now, he realized that it was too late. Her insistence that she would be taller than him still made him feel guilty. Her claims that he would become a world class doctor still ached in his pride. Though, now her screams for help fired in his mind.

"Say something, I'm giving up on you"

"Don't worry, I'm almost certain superman likes being purple." Nora had comforted him when the Stoll brothers soaked his action figures in paint. He didn't even care when she called them dolls. All he could focus on were the scratches of red and blue on superman, and her warm breath near his ear. A rare smile had been spread across her face, making her scarred legs and scratched arms and knees look holy. "No matter how hopeless you seem to be, I will always be there to supply more. Just don't expect some when you're tickling me to death."

"And I will swallow my pride"

Nora's fatal flaw was pride. But as the wind lashed her with chilly whips of cold air, she screamed. She screamed shrieks that made her throat raw, that made her cry and want to be heard even more. Nobody was there but the fish, to hear her. They didn't even stop to acknowledge the shape looming closer towards the water. Then, as she hit it, she lost her breath and only just brought enough oxygen in to her lungs.

"You're the one that I love"

When she crashed into the water, she wanted to scream even more. She wanted to lash out and take charge. The hardest part, was refusing to open her eyes against the murky water. Especially when all she could imagine seeing when she opened her eyes was his sheepish face when he rubbed the back of his neck. She heard him ask why she wouldn't look at him, and see his shoulder brushing against hers. But she knew it couldn't be him.

"And I'm saying goodbye"

It was not of her own free-will that she opened her eyes to see only shadows and dirt and litter. It was the itching curiosity, the itching to know he was there, comforting her, that she opened them. It wasn't really her choice. Then, when she realized that she had no control over anything, that she couldn't swim or find air anywhere, she tried to scream.

"Say something, I'm giving up on you"

The lioness and karpoi were dust, sitting in the bottom of the river now. Max searched over the ruins of the bridge for her even though he held her dagger in his hand as his trophy. This probably wasn't what she had in mind for a reward. But this was the best thing he could get, a token of good luck, or bad luck depending on how you looked at it. Now the Tartarus which once resided in his throat was now behind his eyes, and piecing apart his soul. She was gone and he knew it.

"And I'm sorry that I couldn't get to you"

It still pierced his heart, that he couldn't find her body or anything of her's that they could actually burn except for his own heart. Tears still dusted his eyes, refusing to roll down his cheeks as a sign of defeat. There had to be something of her left, not just the marks she had left on the people around her, or the graffiti painted over on the Big House. And he knew when he went back to camp, that he would find little things to remind him, like a hair clip that she left under his pillow or a bracelet that had snagged on one of his clothes as he was putting it away.

"And anywhere I would've followed you (Ooh-oh)"

Then, he reflected on the kiss. It was sloppy, and cold, and beautiful. That was why he liked her. Even against the grimmest odds, she could triumph. She could force the enemy to raise a white flag, or fall into a ditch. That was why he thought she would be alright after the fighting was over. She was beautiful, yet warding and full of little mistakes.

"Say something, I'm giving up on you"

Then he thought over her words again, and this time the tears rolled down, and fell upon the concrete, and from there they rolled and somersaulted until reaching the water below. He had forgot to talk back to Michael. His dark blue eyes watered with sorrow and resentment and love. A whimpering sound was all that he could force from his throat. Others around him, gathering on the broken concrete, staring at the lonesome water below. Maybe they were thinking about Michael or Nora or somebody else who was lost. He wasn't the only one who had lost a loved one.

"Say something, I'm giving up on you"

When Nora had realized her mistake, she was terrified. She was far away from the surface of the river, and she was shuddering in the cold, terrible water as it filled her chest. Now, she couldn't get herself to close her eyes and be left in the darkness. A few seconds later, with the water smothering her, she gave up. There would be no god who came to save her, only Thantos. So now, she kept her thoughts on the amazing things in her life. She kept them on Max and her siblings and her life before she drowned.

"Say something..."

They had thrown her pillow and blanket and a few clothes into her coffin. That day they burned a lot of caskets. There were pieces of everybody who had died in their casket, whether a toe or a chair. Max sat starry eyed while he was near the box. His mind somewhere else. He imagined Nora with her muddy hair floating endlessly in the water in which she drowned, with her petite and rectangular body lost forever. All he could think of was whether the gods had helped her get over how much it must of hurt. But it hadn't been the gods or any mysterious force that granted her a peaceful death. It was that she knew Max had given his counselor a difficult time.

Notes

I have not got the chance to thoroughly check this, or edit it. So please, if you see any improper grammar or spelling mistakes, tell me. It would make this a whole lot easier.