I feel like I'm pulling a Taylor Swift and changing, well- everything. I'm gonna start posting more so it gives me the motivation to keep writing. I'm so, so sorry, but I'm not going to be continuing any of my previous fics- Except maybe the last one- Three Card Monte. I', also going to delete a couple of them (they're really cringey haha) so I'm SO SORRY guys! Also to make up for it, I'm going to go all out and post as often as I can, hope that's okay! xxxx A (also I changed my name! It me!)

I.

Nobody really envies Annabeth's position right now. You know what they say- The only thing to travel faster than light is gossip, and boy, do people talk.

She's almost growing immune to the stares and the constant whispering behind her back. She knows the rumors, though- The brave ones scream them out at her, the bullies send her ominous 'warnings' and the cowards aren't as quiet as they think when they murmur.

Her boyfriend is crazy. He's too temperamental- They never know when he'll decide to blow up Camp.

She doesn't care. Not when she comes back to a bed filled with bugs or the bright red paint on the door of the Athena cabin, telling her to 'GET AWAY FROM HIM', because she knows Percy better than anybody else here.

People fear power, she tells herself. And Percy's as powerful as it gets.

She sits alone on the Poseidon table for dinner- Her own siblings are weary of her- there's a new twelve-year-old, and after a talk with Malcolm, they'd come to the agreement- albeit bitter on both ends- that she's better off staying out of their way. Without Percy, who'd claimed he wasn't particularly hungry, Annabeth had nobody to eat with.

And maybe, if she knew the company she was going to have, she'd have been a little happier about not having any at all.

Piper slides in beside her. Annabeth looks up at her, only to see Jason and Leo set down their plates opposite the girls. They all have somber expressions on their faces.

"We need to talk." Piper announces, and Annabeth is about to agree, when she catches herself- Now they want to talk? She scowls at Piper- The daughter of Aphrodite never came to have a fair conversation.

"Then play fair." She tells her coldly. "Tuck your charm in your pocket."

Piper has the decency to look a little embarrassed. Annabeth looks at the girl she'd thought was one of her best friends. She hates to admit it, even to herself, but she'd thought, in some way, that maybe Piper would be able to fill in the massive abyss Silena had left behind. She knew she couldn't replace someone, but she'd hoped Piper would be there for her, as her best friend.

Obviously, she couldn't have been more wrong. Maybe, in a way, Annabeth is most bitter about Piper, because she'd thought they were above it. She'd hoped beyond hope that Piper would stay by her side- by Percy's side, when things went to shit.

"You know what we want to talk about." Jason says, eyes pleading. Annabeth takes a forkful of her potato mash and shoves it into her mouth to stop herself from snapping back at him. She glares at the three of them.

"I don't suppose it's to do with the fact that Percy's going through the toughest time, and that none of you want to help?" She asks.

"Percy- Look, we care about you." Piper pleads. She reaches out to hold Annabeth's hand. Her touch is cold.

"You're losing weight. You look constantly tired." Leo points out. "I saw you fight Clarisse this afternoon. She nearly ran her spear through your brains."

"Yeah, he's right." Jason agrees, nodding his head vehemently. "You've gotten incredibly slow. It looks like you're dy-" But Annabeth doesn't miss the way Piper's eyes flash and he stops himself.

"What we're trying to say is," Piper continues. "We understand that you want to be there for Percy, Annabeth, but it's taking a toll on you, and- I can't stand around to watch him suck the lif-"

But the words are already out. Annabeth feels blood raging in her ears. Tears sting at her eyes. Her throat is thick with emotion suppressed over the last two months.

"He's dangerous, Annabeth. He is out of control." Leo stresses. He leans forward. "You have to back off, or the next time he has one of this temper tantrums,-"

"You'll be closest." Piper finishes.

Annabeth shakes her head, ignoring the tears trickling down her face.

"Percy deserves better." She tells them. She gets to her feet, only to have everyone stare at her- again. This time, she addresses everyone. "He deserves better than all of you." She's still shaking her head. "You want him to win you your battles, not once do any of you think about the effect it would have on him."

Her voice has risen to a scream, and she feels herself losing her hold on her emotions. She starts sobbing, then.

"Everyone here is selfish." She sobs, sinking to her knees, unable to hold her own weight. Nobody steps forward to help. "Clarisse." Annabeth cries. "Connor, Travis, Katie- Rachel." She screeches, new wave of anger taking over her. She turns on her heel to face the oracle, who's sat beside Chiron, staring at her with big eyes.

"You were his best friend." She cries. "Do you even care?"

Rachel only regards her silently with a slight pout, like she feels sorry for her. Even Chiron is watching her sadly, like he would've helped, but his hands were tied. She hates the look of pity she's getting. She doesn't need pity.

Mr. D, for the first time, doesn't say anything. He looks at her like she's scum of the earth. She sobs hysterically on the floor, burying her face in her hands. He'd told her a while ago that Percy wasn't going mad- and there wasn't much he could do for her. Not one person moves to comfort her.

Instead, after about a minute of silence apart from her ragged breaths, arms wrap around her waist and hoist her to her feet. She looks up at Percy, whose expression is impossible to read. He picks her up like she weighs nothing and walks out without so much as a word to anyone else.

Annabeth is exhausted, and closes her eyes for a moment, but the next time she opens them, it's bright outside, and Percy's on his stomach and fast asleep beside her.

She reaches out, using one hand to cup the side of his face that she can see. He looks so at peace, she thinks. It's so rare, for them to have peaceful moments like these. The sun casts a warm halo around him. His breathing is steady, features relaxed.

For a second, Annabeth imagines this- an eternity of waking up by his side like this. She allows herself the luxury of dreaming a future for them. A happy one, where she'd go to work every morning and kiss Percy goodbye, and come home to a spaghetti and wine dinner. They'd talk about their days and he'd kiss her and it could escalate and they'd have sex on their couch and Percy would tell her he loved her every night and hold her close, and- He'd be happy.

"Morning." Percy mumbles sleepily, bringing her back to reality. She smiles at him, moving closer to be by his side. He wraps his arms around her, pulling her to him. "What were you thinking about?"

"What if we left Camp?" She asks. Percy frowns at her. "We'll go somewhere sunny. Next to the beach. Europe- Let's go to Mykonos, maybe Venice. Somewhere nice." Percy cracks a smile, burying his face in her neck. He presses his lips against her skin.

"Sure." He says. "Let's do it."

"I want to spend my life with you." She tells him. It's enough to get him to pull back, meet her eyes.

"What?"

"I want to spend my life with you." She repeats. "Like, this." She gestures to the space between them. "This is all I really need. You and me."

Percy shakes his head slowly. "You can't do that." He says quietly. Annabeth looks at him blankly. "You don't want to go to Greece and Italy. You want to get away from Camp."

"And if I do?"

"Annabeth, these people are your family." Percy says. "Our family. We have to make things right. Besides, what about our city? You were going to design us a-"

"They're selfish and horrible people, Percy." She complains.

"Would you forgive yourself if you ran away and something were to happen to Clarisse?" Annabeth considers it. She's known Clarisse for so long- they'd been together since she was nine and Clarisse was ten. She couldn't bring herself to up and leave like that. She forgets how smart Percy is, sometimes. "Give them some time. They'll come back, I promise."

And so she does. They get ready and Percy heads to the sword fighting arena for a scheduled session with Jason, and Annabeth goes out to the lava wall. She climbs up easily enough, and from up there, she can see Percy and Jason fighting.

It used to be something they did for fun- Not many people were a match for them. Now, Jason does it so Percy has a way to vent out his frustrations. She decides to go sit out at the arena and watch them.

By the time she gets there, their sparring has turned into full-fledged combat. She can see Jason getting tired- He looks like he's about to break. Annabeth wants to call for them to stop, call it a day, but she remembers the last time she'd tried to interfere. Jason had swatted her aside and out of the arena easily, not paying her a second glance, but she'd spent two days nursing three broken bones and a deep cut down her shoulder.

She stays back, watching as their fight gets uglier, the boys get more and more aggressive until it's too hard to watch. By this time, she's peeking through her fingers, wanting to stop looking on but unable to. There's a loud clang! as Jason's sword goes flying out of his hand, and he's left standing sword's length from Percy, defenseless and chest heaving.

Their match is over, but Annabeth knows immediately that something's wrong. The storm in Percy's eyes haven't died down, his back is still tense. In a flash, she's on her feet, covering the arena in record time and flinging herself at Jason, sending them both tumbling onto the ground just as Percy swings Riptide. If Annabeth had hesitated for so much as a second, Percy would've sliced Jason's head clean off.

There's a stunned silence for a moment. Under her, Jason lets out a growl, shoving her off him like she weighed nothing. She can't think as she's sent flying out, and her back hits the bottom of the brick steps. The impact shakes her awake, her mind racing but her body in excruciating pain.

She looks up just in time to see Percy hovering in a windy storm, Jason scowling at him.

"Jason, stop it!" Annabeth calls, but it's too late, because Perc bares his teeth, and before she knows it, the ground under them is shaking violently.

"How dare you," Percy snarls, now back on the ground because of how distracted Jason is. "I am the son of the Earthshaker!"

People are starting to come into the arena, everyone's eyes on them. Annabeth suddenly feels too tired- she fights the urge to fall asleep. Travis Stoll is too close to them- he's going to get hurt. She gets to her feet, ignoring her brain lulling her to go back so sleep.

Her eyes are solely on Travis, which is why she doesn't notice until Percy's body flies past her, slamming into the brick wall. He crumples and lies still for long enough for Annabeth to get worried, and she's about to run over when he gets onto his feet, almost by magic. His expression is ugly- worse than a snarl or a scowl. He looks livid.

Again, before she can react, a jet of water, seemingly from nowhere hits Jason in the chest. Suddenly, the arena is blue of water and earthquakes and gusts of wind strong enough to knock over trees and sparks of electricity.

And Annabeth is in the middle of it all.

She can hear Chiron calling for them to stop, but neither of the boys seem to care. Percy now has the entire canoe lake swirling above him, and something in her gut tells her that Jason is in some grave danger.

"Jason, please, no!" She calls, throwing herself in the water's path as it shoots towards Jason.

What happens next is something she can't describe. The water lifts her off her feet, and all at once, she's both suffocating, and dizzy. Under her, she can hear people screaming, but she doesn't know why. She struggles to open her eyes, but all she sees is blue. And a world spinning too fast for her to comprehend.

She struggles against the water, but it's slowing her movements. She can't breathe. She wants to close her eyes. She needs air. Is anything worth the struggle anymore? Against her better judgement, she stops fighting and closes her eyes.

She's drowning, she realizes. By her boyfriend's hand. Somehow, she's okay with that. There's worse ways to go. She wonders if Percy would feel better once she was dead. A part of her knows he'd be devastated, but it's nothing he wouldn't get over. Maybe this is what's supposed to happen- For him to truly focus on controlling his powers.

It had to be her, she thinks. She's already forgiven Percy- How can she not? He'd changed her life, made it something worth living. She thinks it's only right that he puts a stop to it.

She thinks of how much she loves him, concentrates on it. She wants to hold on to all that's precious in her last moments before she joins the queue at Charon's ferry.

When her eyes flutter open, she's looking up at the infirmary ceiling, and her first thought is, death looks an awful lot like Camp. Her second is that Clarisse shouldn't be looking down at her, eyes red, mostly because Clarisse isn't dead.

And yet, here she is. She sits up a little straighter, and the daughter of Ares helps her. Every muscle in her body is screaming in protest. She ignores the pain. Her throat is parched and burning. She accepts the nectar Clarisse hands her, and downs it in one go.

"You're okay." Her friend says, voice shaky. "You scared the daylight out of everyone."

"Where's Percy?" Annabeth croaks. "Is he alright?"

"He's back in the Poseidon cabin." Clarisse says. Annabeth nods, not wanting to talk to her old friend anymore. "Annabeth, listen-" She starts, but her voice cracks. "You almost died today- I, uh, I'd hate to- I just wanted to say," She struggles.

Annabeth raises her brows, and Clarisse swallows visibly. It's the most fumbling Annabeth's ever seen her do, which is almost funny, because of how she always seems so sure of herself. Clarisse takes a deep breath.

"What I'm trying to say is, Wise Girl, I was wrong to ever doubt your stupid boyfriend." Annabeth blinks at her, wondering exactly what happened. "I don't trust him, but you do, and I- You're a good girl. I just want to say, I should've always been by your side. Silena would've."

Annabeth closes her eyes. She wants to tell Clarisse that she's too late, that she's fine on her own, but it's the furthest from the truth. In reality, knowing there's one other person willing to help Percy out- It's more than she could ask for, and it's making her choke up. She reaches up and touches her own throat and flinches. She can bet there's a bruise somewhere there that the nectar still hasn't healed.

"That Roman kid's been dying to come in." Clarisse says gruffly. She raches out and gives Annabeth's shoulder a light pat. "I'm glad you're okay."

Jason does come in- to thank her for saving his life. Piper follows later, eyes red and face puffy.

"Do you still think I'm wrong?" She asks. Annabeth doesn't look her in the face- She couldn't.

Will Solace helps her out the rest of the day, and tells her she's good to go, and she heads straight to the Poseidon cabin to find it locked. She bangs her fists against it until she's bleeding, and that's what it takes for Percy to open the door to her.

"I'm a little upset you didn't come to check up on me." She says lightly, stepping in, but she looks up at Percy and falls silent.

His face is gaunt and a chalky white. His hair is standing up in all angles, the bags under his eyes looking even worse. That's not the worst part, though- He's got cuts and bruises all over his face, his bare chest and waist. Some of them are still bleeding- and he makes no attempt to fix it. His eyes are on her, and maybe that's the most unsettling part of him. His expression is sour, eyes a dark green, and she feels like he's looking into her soul.

He stays silent for a long time. Annabeth doesn't move. Finally, he croaks,

"Why?"

"Why what?" Annabeth fires back with a glare. She can't believe she went through all of that for him, and he had the gall to look upset with her?"

"Why did you step in for Jason? Why did you let me nearly ki-dr-" He can't bring himself to say the word, his voice breaks. "Why did you stand by my side this whole time, knowing they were right- I am out of control. And why the fuck did you come back here?"

Annabeth stares at him. Since they'd gotten out of Tartarus, she'd clung to him like he was her lifeline. He didn't have an issue then. They'd talked about their future and how happy they were going to be, together, and he didn't raise any concerns. She'd held his hand when he'd thrash around wildly in his sleep, and calm him down when he'd wake up crying for her. When he'd needed her, she'd lent him her unwavering support, and suddenly he has a problem with it?

"Because I love you." She says. It's so obvious- She can't believe they're having this conversation. "And I know you'll get better soon, and I want to be there for you, every step of the wa-"

"I don't." His voice is quiet, and he's looking at the ground when he says it, so Annabeth isn't even sure she heard him right. She looks at him.

"You don't what?"

He wears a pained expression when he looks up to meet her eye. He looks like he's trying really hard to hold back tears. He shakes his head a little, his Adam's apple bobbing. When he speaks again, he looks away from her, somewhere near their bed.

"I don't love you anymore, Annabeth." His voice breaks when he says her name.

Annabeth is thankful for the storm outside Camp as she walks. She has nothing on her except the clothes on her back. Somewhere behind her, a voice calls desperately,

"Annabeth! Hey, stop! Annabeth, stop!"

But she doesn't dare turn around. Clarisse finally catches up to her, well outside the Camp borders and in the pouring rain. She holds her arm and turns her around roughly.

"Where are you going?" Clarisse demands. She's glaring at her, but her expression falters when she notices the look on Annabeth's face. Annabeth is thankful for the rain because it covers her tears.

"Away."

"Why?"

"I never want to look at this place again." Annabeth tells her roughly, tugging her arm out of the other woman's grasp. "I hate this place." She cries. "I never want to come back!"

Clarisse looks at her like she's been slapped in the face. Then her face hardens.

"Look, whatever you're throwing a fit about, forget it. Come back to the Big House. We'll talk tomorrow. Look at the storm- Maybe your boyfriend can take you-"

"Don't ever call him that again!" Annabeth wails. She wants to sob, right here, in the mud and the cold. Clarisse looks confused, and then seems to figure out what might've happened. She does the last thing Annabeth expects- She pulls her in for a hug.

"I'll help you get through this." Clarisse tells her. "Please, just stay. Whatever the guy's done to you- I'll kill Jackson, I don't know, just- stay."

Annabeth can't believe she's hearing these words from Clarisse. They'd been close, sure, but after Percy had started to occupy all her time, they'd drifted apart. It almost scares her, how comforting she finds Clarisse's presence. She pulls away, shaking her head.

"Let me do this. I promise, I'll come back, if- If I feel like it."

The if hangs heavily between them, both of them knowing there's a slim chance they'll see each other again. But Clarisse nods and steps back. She doesn't look at Annabeth when she says goodbye or when she turns around and runs off up the hill.

With a deep breath, Annabeth hails the Gray Sisters taxi.