The Knight in Stygian Iron
Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Main Pairing: Percy/Nico
Side Pairings: Clarisse/Annabeth, Jason/Reyna
Summary: Annabeth has broken it off with Percy, so Percy calls it quits. The camp, the gods, everything. Read and Review!
Percy's POV
"What will it be?" asked the bartender.
"Vodka tonic," answered the boy, his voice raw.
Raising an eyebrow, the bartender decided to keep quiet, and began mixing the drink. Percy Jackson didn't really notice, his mind was more preoccupied with what had happened a week earlier. No, he thought. He'd relived the moment enough times to know he could tolerate no more without having some alcohol in his system to dull the piercing pain that was his sorrow. He was jarred out of his thoughts when his drink was placed in front of him. He took a sip and nearly choked. Oh yeah, this was what just what he needed. Bracing himself first, he took another sip, suppressing the urge to gag as the liquid burned his throat. But the burn was welcome. It was his key to forgetting his life. The key to forgetting what she said. Oh gods, he thought, but he couldn't stop it now, the memories were quickly finding their way to the surface of the murky thoughts of Percy Jackson.
"I can't do this anymore, Percy. I can't."
Percy's grip tightened on his glass, nearly cracking it. Why? Why did she do this? How could she do this?
"But, Annabeth, what did I do? Why?"
The question drove him insane. Why?
"I just need space that's all. I feel like you're suffocating me, expecting me to be something I'm not. I'm sorry, I just can't do this anymore. I, I just think we should take a break from each other."
He hadn't said another word after that, he didn't know what to say. He'd just stood there, stupidly opening and closing his mouth, his brain unable to find anything to say. He'd known that her "break" was permanent. It was as if she had ripped his heart out of his chest and branded it in the fire with an iron.
She took his hand and said, "Goodbye," and walked away.
He'd just stood there for awhile, feeling numb before he snapped out of it and promptly walked out of camp and caught a lift up to New York. He was done. Finished. He would never go back. Just forget that the place existed. Just forget that the gods existed. Everything. And this is how he ended up here, in this hellhole, trying to figure out how to drown his sorrows. To forget her existence. A mere grease spot on the map. With that last thought in mind, he gulped down the rest of his tonic before ordering another one.