Celestial Spectrums and Homeless Hearts

Written for Aeron Thana's Color Challenge

Rated K+

Part One

It is often said that home is where the heart is. Annabeth Chase often wondered if this made her a hobo.

Her heart didn't belong in the house she lived in. Her father didn't deserve her respect, let alone her love.

Her heart lay broken and discarded, ignored by the "perfect" family around her. She couldn't stand it. Her father doted on his new wife, and on his new sons. They were, in turn, cruel to the only one who didn't fit.

It seemed that the days where she and her father played with, laughed with, and loved each other were gone.

She was downcast, downtrodden. She would have said her life was a living hell, back when she was still there.

She couldn't take it anymore. She ran. She ran from her life, from everything she ever knew. She ran into yonder, the horizon beyond the horizon.

Monsters harassed her from all sides, waiting and waiting. Terror pounded in her heart, and her breath was forced from her lungs. This was the cacophony she heard every waking day, every sleeping night.

Not that her home was much better.

She had grown used to the snarls of monsters, and to the beating of her heart when she found them.

The boy and the girl. They extended a bronze arm of friendship, despite the fact that giving daggers to little kids is dangerous. They took her in, taught her and helped her.

It with them that she truly learned the meaning of home. Her bronze dagger, and their promise saw to that.

For Annabeth Chase, bronze would always be the color home.

[9/20/12]

Total Word Count: 276