Annabeth's POV

It was a normal day, in the morning anyways. Wake up. Eat breakfast. Hang with Percy. Teach History. Lunch. Sword fighting classes. Thats where it went wrong. Where I found out my whole life maybe wasn't so bad.

Almost half the camp was watching Percy Jackson and Travis Stoll fight. Percy was probably the best sword fighter in a hundred years, and I was privileged to call him my best friend, but Travis Stoll was good. He had been at camp for a long time, and must have gotten pretty fit from running away when people wanted to kill him after a prank. He loved sword fighting with a passion, and he practiced all the time.

They were both right into it, they were sweating from fighting for so long. Block. Slash. Stab. Defend. They weren't using shields, both just had swords, and both had a large cheer squad watching their back. A lot were on Percy's team just because he was Percy, but people were on Travis's team because he actually had a chance of beating Percy. Beating Percy. Uggh.

Travis let his guard slip for a second, and Percy got in a pretty good hit. But Travis came back desperately, and ended up hitting Percy with the flat of his blade, on his rib cage, high up under his left arm.

Percy crumpled onto the ground.

Blood started covering his shirt at an alarming pace. His sword had been thrown across the arena.

"What? I don't understand! I didn't cut him, I swear!" Travis yelled, getting on the ground beside Percy.

I was on the ground too, right beside Travis, trying to get Percy to talk to me, "Percy, open your eyes, look at me, what happened? Why are you bleeding?"

Percy opened his eyes, and he looked like a cornered animal. He flinched away when I tried to get a closer look at his wound. "Don't touch me."

I know I probably shouldn't have taken offence to that, but Percy was my best friend! It's not like I hadn't seen him without his shirt on before, so why was it a big deal for me to look at the wound?

Travis stood up, and Percy and I followed suit. "Sorry, dude, did I cut you or something?"

"Ah, no. You must have reopened an old wound or something. You know, monster fights and stuff. I think that one was from the Hydra." Percy said, and I realized everyone who had watched the fight was watching Percy with wide eyes.

Then it hit me.

"Ummm, Percy, your armor covers your arm up there, it couldn't have been a scar from monster fighting. Let me look." I said. Something wasn't right.

Percy reluctantly took off his shirt and moved his left arm back. I couldn't believe it. It was an old scar. It looked ragged too. It went from his armpit down and across to almost the bottom of his rib cage. And it was all bleeding.

"Oh, dude, I'm so sorry. I really didn't mean it." Travis said honestly.

Will Solace ran up to us, everyone watching him. "Hey, let me fix that. I can fix it up so there's no scar to be opened up anymore." He said it with a smile, but I could tell he was worried.

"No! I want to keep it! I have to!" Percy said, before looking down and flinching away, again.

"Oh, shut up, Seaweed Brain! You look like you're bleeding to death! Look how pale you are! Someone grab him some water!" I yelled into the crowd, and a couple of kids left, but there was still a good 50 watching us.

"No! Water doesn't leave a scar either! I need the scar!" Percy yelled at me, and I was shocked. Percy had never really yelled at me before.

"You really want to keep a stupid scar?" I asked him unbelievably. "Why the hell would you risk dyeing over that?"

"Because, I already risked dyeing the first time I got it! Why not do it again!" He yelled back, getting paler. Yelling was taking too much energy.

"Sit down." Will ordered and Percy collapsed to the ground with his head in his hands.

"Percy, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you while you're injured." I said grudgingly because I hated apologizing. Percy didn't look at me. "Come on, Percy, are you really that mad?"

He didn't look up. I crouched down beside him. "Don't Sooke, Seaweed Brain. It's unattractive." I joked, hoping he would at least laugh. He didn't.

Instead, he looked up.

He was crying. Percy Jackson was crying. No-not just crying, he was sobbing. Heartbreaking sobs.

I reached out to give him a hug or something, I'm not sure what I was going to do, but Percy jumped up and flinched away again. Three times now. "Don't touch me." He said, yet again.

"Percy, what's wrong? Why do you want to keep that scar? I know for a fact that you didn't get it from fighting a monster. You wouldn't want to keep it if it was just another injury. Does it have something to do with Bianca?" I said gently, Bianca was a touchy subject.

"No. This scar is old." Percy said with no emotion, but he was still crying.

"Percy, are you going to tell me where you got that scar?" He didn't say anything. "I'll call your mom if you want me to, just stop crying, please."

"No! Oh, gods, no! Mom can't know, mom can never know!" Percy started backing away until he ran into some kids still watching from the fight.

Travis tried now, walking up until he was in front of Percy, "Dude, calm down, maybe you should, take a nap, or something." He took Percy's arm, going to lead him away.

"Don't touch me! I promise I won't tell her! I promise with all my heart! Just one day, no! I'm begging you! You can send me away again! You won't have to look at me for months!" Percy sank to the ground, crying even more.

Travis backed away, and stared at Percy in shock. Everyone was, really. He seemed to be having a complete mental breakdown. And he was still bleeding.

Just then, Chiron entered the arena. He saw Percy on the floor and came up to me. "Annabeth, what is wrong with Percy? What caused this?"

"I don't know! Travis opened an old scar of his, and now he's like this. He won't tell me where he got it though." I felt so helpless. I was supposed to be Percy's best friend. How did I not know how he got this scar? I never even noticed it before!

"Everyone please leave the arena! Class is dismissed!" Chiron cried out, and everyone left the arena except me, Chiron, and Percy.

Percy wasn't crying as much, so I decided to try again. "Percy, where did you get that scar?"

"He gave it to me." Percy said with contempt. He stood up, and wiped the tears from his face. "Sorry you guys had to see that, it hasn't happened in a while."

"You mean this has happened before?" I cried incredulously.

"Not in a while." Percy said, before leaving the arena.

I looked at Chiron for support, but he just said, "Go after him, child. He will share when he's ready."

I ran after Percy, but he was already gone. He wasn't in his cabin either, so I went to the docks. Sure enough, he was there, his feet dangling off the edge.

"I'll tell you if you really want me to." He said in a low voice.

"I won't pressure you or anything, but I'd sure like to know." I replied honestly. At least he was looking better.

"I already told you, it was him." Percy said, and suddenly, I could see him as a very sad, depressed, teenager.

"I'm sorry, but I know a few hims." I said, hoping for a laugh. Not even close.

"It was Gabe. I have others too. Just to let you know."

I was shocked. I had always thought Percy had a great life. His mom was amazing, so I figured he had a better life than most demigods before camp. Better than me anyways. But this... "Percy, you were abused? For how long?"

"Years. Long, dark, years. Forever, until I came here." He never met my eyes at all. He just stared at the dark depths of the water.

"I'm so sorry." Was all I said because I knew he didn't want to hear anything else.

"I don't want people's pity. That's why I've never told anyone." He said. "I mean, everyone has secrets, but maybe it's best to let them go sometimes, just forget about them and try to live a normal life."

"But then you found out you were a demigod, and normal kind of slipped out of the picture, didn't it?" I asked, already knowing I was right.

"Yeah, I mean, he hit my mom to, that's why I let her kill him, instead of me, but when all of this started," He motioned around the whole camp with his arms, "it just kind of seemed unimportant. I try to not let people take advantage of me anymore, and I'm glad I can always fight back now, but these things don't just leave your memory overnight."

"Yeah, I know. Nights on the street don't leave you either." I said, hoping to consol him a bit.

"That's another reason." Percy said, looking up at me, "I'm not the only one who went through this, so why make a big deal about it?"

"Good point. I'm sure a lot of demigods went through that actually. Maybe not too many physical, but most people here were mentally abused early years."

"Yeah, you can kinda tell, we're not exactly normal." Percy laughed.

"Agreed." I said, and we just sat for a while, watching camp activities go on around us like normal.

Percy was looking up at the sky when he said, "Everybody has secrets, but maybe they don't always have to be kept as secrets. Thanks for listening Annabeth."

"You know I'll always listen to you, no matter how much of a Seaweed Brain you are."

So, I'm done! Hope everyone enjoyed! Please review!