This is, without a doubt, the angstiest thing I have ever written. I cried writing it, seriously. Beware.
Dedication: For Something More Creative (Rachel), who requested the prompt 'hospital' over on Tumblr.
Warnings: Language, major character death, car crashes, funerals. If any of this stuff makes you feel uncomfortable or triggers anything, please click back. I don't mind.
Note: I am extremely lucky and grateful to have never been in a car crash nor attend a lot of funerals in my life. If I incorrectly depict them, please PM me and I will fix any mistakes.
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Annabeth had a love-hate relationship with Jason's minivan.
The thing was atrocious, for starters- hulking and gold, with broken AC and a dented right door that wouldn't open unless you kicked the bottom corner. It was filthy, too- the backseat was covered in a film of chip crumbs, gum was stuck to the dashboard, and muddy footprints were plastered as far as the eye could see. However, it was the only car that was big enough to seat all 7 of them, so more often than not Annabeth got forced into the trunk of the minivan, squished up against Piper and Hazel as the boys argued over the music in the front seat.
And sure, they had some pretty good adventures in the van, aptly named the Argo II, from various jaunts to amusement parks to road trip catastrophes and that one memorable occasion where Jason, Leo, and Piper all ate bad seafood and puked the entire drive home. In the end, it was pretty safe to say that although Annabeth didn't loathe the minivan, per say, it wasn't her first choice of transportation. Like, ever.
So when Percy came up to her, green eyes pleading, and told her that they (meaning the boys) wanted to go to the beach next weekend, Annabeth immediately knew what vehicle she would be stuck in for the four-hour drive.
Which brought her to her current predicament, stuck in the trunk with the windows cracked open as Piper frantically played Piano Tiles beside her. Being the only decent driver out of them all, Leo was behind the wheel, and Percy had nabbed shotgun, leaving Jason, Hazel and Frank stuck in the middle row, various beach supplies and coolers jammed beneath their feet. Someone (most likely Leo) had tuned the radio to some horrible pop station, and the sounds of- was that One Direction?- filtered weakly from the speakers around them all.
It wasn't a situation Annabeth was unfamiliar with, by any means. They usually made this same trip around 4 or 5 times a year, with parents when they were younger, alone as of last summer. The smell of sunscreen ran rampant in the air, tinged with the scent of the bag of Doritos Jason and Frank were passing back and forth, and she closed her eyes, taking in the sheer familiarity of it all.
"Annabeth," Percy called her name, and her eyes blearily flickered open again. He smiled at her in childish amusement, seatbelt hanging loose as he leaned over the top of his chair to talk to her. "What do you say? You, me, and some ice cream once we get there?"
She nodded and smiled in response. "As long as it's blue, I'm in." Blue food was something Percy had insisted on since they started dating two years ago, and eventually she grew to love it as well.
"When is it not?" Percy's hair flopped in his eyes, and he impatiently brushed it out. "Leo says we've got about an hour left until we reach. Any requests for the radio?"
She opened her mouth, running through a mental list of songs in her head, when-
There was a bang, followed by the horrible sound of tires screeching and metal colliding, and suddenly Annabeth found herself tumbling upside down, as the minivan rolled, once, twice, three times. Somewhere in this cacophony of screams and horns blaring and tears, Annabeth felt herself collide with the roof, and stars sparked in front of her eyes as blood poured down from the top of her head. Sirens blared as someone screamed for help, and then-
And then-
Nothing.
o-o-o
When Annabeth first opened her eyes, she had no clue where she was.
For starters, the place smelled weird- a mixture of antiseptic and something else she couldn't quite put her finger on. Her eyes felt crusty, as if it had been a long time since they last opened, and her head throbbed, as if someone was perpetually slamming a mallet into it. What had happened to her?
She got her answer as soon as she glanced to her right. Piper and Jason sat there, the former with scratches covering her arms and a black eye, the latter with his arm in a sling. At once, everything flooded back to her- the trip to the beach, talking with Percy, and then the horrible sound of metal meeting metal as the minivan crashed. She let out a faint whimper at the memory, and the two other occupants of the room glanced over, faces lightening when they realized she was awake.
"Annabeth," Piper gasped, eyes filling with tears as she gingerly pulled her into a hug. "Thank god you're okay."
"What happened?" She asked, her voice hoarse as she maneuvered herself into a sitting position. "Where am I? Where is everyone else?"
Jason bit his bottom lip, glanced at Piper, and then spoke, his words sounding oddly rehearsed. "You're in the hospital. There was a collision with a pickup truck heading the opposite way. Hazel and Frank are with Leo right now- he's still unconscious. Your parents are getting food, your half-brothers are at home. You were out for two days."
A pit of dread had begun to bubble in Annabeth's stomach, and she firmly pushed it down. "And Percy?" Her voice was barely a whisper. "Where's Percy? Is he here? Is he okay?"
"Annabeth…" She studied Piper closer- taking in the red-rimmed eyes, the slumped body, the exhaustion and pain written on her face, and her heart started to thud in her chest. "The truck collided with the passenger side."
"No," Annabeth felt like the ground had just dropped out from underneath her, and she balled her hands tight in the sheets, praying for them to say that Percy was fine, that he was just getting coffee and would be right back. "No, no, no, no."
"He was turned around with his seatbelt off," Jason whispered brokenly, refusing to meet her gaze. "There was nothing anyone could do. By the time the ambulance arrived, he was gone."
"I'm sorry," Piper had begun to sob by this point, her entire body quaking as tears streamed down her cheeks. "Annabeth, Percy's dead."
She didn't remember much of what happened next. She remembered that she had cried, cried for so long and hard that she had begun to choke on her own tears. She remembered that she had screamed herself hoarse, how she had cursed fate and the other driver and the entire fucking world because it wasn't fair, it wasn't fair at all. She remembered Piper and Jason trying to comfort her, their supposed soothing words not reaching her ears.
And she remembered the nurses, looking at her with pity in their eyes as they jabbed the needle into her neck and sent her into a restless slumber.
o-o-o
The funeral was two days later.
Annabeth hadn't wanted to go at first, but she finally decided she owed it to Percy to attend, and so she had been reluctantly discharged from the hospital with warnings not to overexert herself. Piper had helped her find a dress- the only black one she owned was from junior prom with Percy last year, and there was no way she was wearing that- and now the two of them sat in the back of her dad's car, muscles tensed and purses crammed full of the tissues they would oh-so-surely need.
"Hey," Piper nudged Annabeth softly, noticing the way she clenched the handle of the car door tightly. "You alright?"
Irrationally, Annabeth had wanted to scream at Piper- of course she wasn't alright- but she understood what the younger girl meant. "I'm not used to being back in a car," She explained quietly, loosening her grip ever-so-slightly. "I mean, there was the ride home from the hospital, but I was asleep for most of it. And before that, the last time was…"
Piper nodded, understanding clear on her face. "The accident." Her voice was hushed, like speaking of the event four days prior was taboo. In a way, it sort of was.
They remained silent for the rest of the drive, until Piper's dad pulled up in front of the funeral home where the service was to be held. Annabeth took a shaky breath, smoothing down the skirt of her dress as she clambered out of the vehicle, steeling herself before she walked in.
The actual casket was closed- Annabeth had heard her parents murmuring about it when she was supposed to be sleeping, saying that Percy had become so disfigured in the accident that it was best that no one else saw. Still, it scared her that when she walked into that room, she would see what was to be the eternal resting place of her boyfriend, her best friend, the one person she trusted above everyone else.
It all felt far too surreal to be reality, and somehow she knew when she viewed the coffin, it would almost solidify the fact that Percy was dead, that he was gone, that he wasn't coming back. And so she purposely dawdled in the lobby of the building, picking up the program before quickly slamming it down because she couldn't stand to even see Percy's face right now, smiling, happy, carefree- all the things he would never be again.
"Annabeth?" A voice asked from beside her, hoarse and rough, as if they had spent the last days sobbing their eyes out, much like herself. She turned and sucked in a breath when she saw Sally Jackson standing there- Sally, her second mother, Sally, who had lost her husband sixteen years ago in a fishing accident, Sally, whose son died four days ago. She barely had time to open her mouth before she was being pulled into a hug, pressing her face into the older woman's shoulder as both of them cried for the loss of someone they loved.
"I'm… I'm sorry," She managed to choke out, tears streaming down her cheeks, as she tried to recall what she should say. "I'm sorry for your loss."
Except loss didn't really cover it, not at all. Loss referred to when you finally got rid of those ten extra pounds, when you accidentally left your phone in a public washroom and someone took it. Loss didn't cover the numbing, excruciating pain of death. Loss was too nice a word, too formal. Death was a wretched beast of a monster, and it did not deserve niceties.
"Oh, honey," Sally smoothed down Annabeth's hair, before pulling away to study her fully. "I suppose it was just his time to go. And sadly, there's nothing any of us can do to change that."
"But… but…" Annabeth couldn't understand how Sally was being so rational, so logical. "It isn't fair." She realized she sounded like a petulant five year old, but somehow, she couldn't help it. Blinking back tears, she continued. "He had his whole life ahead of him. We were talking about colleges, moving in together… he was too young."
"I know," Sally brushed away a few stray tears from the younger girl's cheek. "It isn't fair, it isn't right. My son shouldn't have died before me. My son should have lived a long life with you, in a big house with lots of children running around. But, Annabeth, sweetheart- just because my son is no longer here, doesn't mean I don't think of you as a daughter anymore. Remember that."
Annabeth nodded through trembling lips, accepting Sally's hand as the older woman led her into the room where the service was to be held. The room filled with quiet murmurs as they walked in- people looked at her with sympathy, noticed the bandages still plastered onto her head, the ugly red scratches covering her arms. She ignored them all, walking to the front row and taking a seat in between Hazel and Jason.
"You alright?" The latter whispered to her, worry evident in his blue eyes.
Annabeth shook her head, because no, she wasn't, not at all.
o-o-o
She quickly grew tired of hugging classmates and parents, listening to the constant choruses of "I'm sorry" and "He was too young to die" because really, they thought that she didn't know that? They thought that empty words of pity from them, people who she hadn't spoken to for years, were supposed to fix everything?
So, the first chance she got, she slipped out the back door and into the small garden tucked behind the building, breathing heavily. On any other occasion, Annabeth most likely would have stopped to appreciate the garden fully, with its high columns and winding paths, but in this moment she had no care for it as she made her way to a patch of grass near the center.
She settled on the ground, not even registering how the dampness of the soil seeped into her dress. The sun had begun to set, and bugs flitted around her head as she swatted them away in irritation.
Although tears pricked the corners of her eyes, she pushed them back firmly, focusing all her attention on the blade of grass directly in front of her. Memories sprung into her head without warning- memories of picnics with Percy, memories of lazy days spent in the park, memories of being pushed into a sprinkler by him as a child. Everything around her was Percy, and everything hurt, because that boy had been a constant in her life for what felt like forever. Hell, her first kisses, dances, and dates were all with him. Percy Jackson had been a permanent fixture in Annabeth Chase's existence, and she simply couldn't patch the gaping wound his death had left her with.
Footsteps sounded behind her suddenly, and Annabeth turned to see the rest of them- Piper, Hazel, Leo, Jason, Frank- standing there, tear tracks on their cheeks and hands jammed into pockets.
"Mind if we join you?" Frank asked with a shaky smile, and Annabeth nodded mutely, scooting over to let them all sit down.
"Look, Annabeth…" Leo looked hesitant to speak. "We're not going to pretend to know what you're going through, because we don't. You lost someone you loved with all your heart, and we know that you aren't just going to snap back from that."
"But we also lost someone we loved four days ago," Jason tugged up handfuls of grass as he spoke. "Maybe not as strongly and in the same way you did, but we loved Percy, Annabeth. We love Percy, present tense."
"And we're here for you," Hazel smiled, although her eyes glistened with tears. "You're not alone. Even if you just need a shoulder to cry on for a while. Percy may be gone, but it doesn't mean that there's no one left that loves you."
"We're not asking you to forget Percy, either," Piper added. "We're all going to remember him for the rest of our lives. We're going to grow old, and we're going to take our kids to the beach, and we're going to tell them about Percy Jackson, who acted like the water was his second home, who had a strange obsession with blue food, who was the most loyal friend you could ever meet."
Annabeth let out a choked laugh through her tears. "He did spend too much time in the water, didn't he?" She glanced around at all of them, her friends, her family, and her heart swelled in her chest. "Thank you." She said quietly. "Just… thanks. For everything." There was no coherent way to sum up her thoughts, to put her feelings into words, to tell them how much this show of love and support meant to her, and so she left it at that.
They all seemed to understand what she was trying to convey, however, as everyone scooted closer together on the patch of grass. A peaceful quiet fell over them, and Annabeth wasn't sure what they were all thinking about- maybe Percy, like her? Maybe of the future? Maybe of how to get through this, how to continue with their lives?
But in that moment, in a garden behind a funeral parlour, none of them were alone. They had each other to lean on, to help them in the hard months to come. Because Annabeth knew that it was going to take a while to come to terms with it all, to accept his death and move on. But at least they were all together. They could get through this, as long as they were together.
And, far up above them, Percy Jackson watched over them all, a smile on his face.
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Yeah... I'm sorry. But reviews would be very much appreciated! Also, if you want to leave me a prompt request, pop over to my Tumblr! The link is on my profile page.
Thanks for reading!
-Jace ;)