Prompt 1: Pride (Annabeth/Nico (Sibling Love)
Her fatal flaw was pride. It made her invincible, but it also made her the weakest of them. The clique of the school: A.K.A. The Seven. Percy Jackson, Jason Grace, Piper McLean, Leo Valdez, Frank Zhang, Hazel Levesque, and Annabeth Chase. It was this group that ruled the school. They were of the highest social ranking. Then there were The Alphas. They were basically The Seven, but for those who didn't get into it. This was the next best thing. It included of Thalia Grace, Calypso Ogygia, Reyna, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Octavian, and Nico, but he had left the group in the middle of the school year, which had created an uprising. Something like that had never happened. But then, of course, everyone brushed it off and treated Nico the way they did before he joined The Alphas. The little boy who just couldn't be taken seriously. It hurt Annabeth to see this. Nico was almost her little brother, and she saw that he was hurting, even if he didn't show it. But Annabeth couldn't do anything about it. Why? It was her pride that had stopped her. The same pride that led her into becoming a part of The Seven, the same pride that led her to becoming one of the most favored student in the teachers' and students' point of view, for she was so smart and always willing to help anybody. But that pride also had blocked her from saving Nico from his daily torture. Her pride had thought that Nico was too low of a rank to be saved from, and didn't deserve Annabeth's help. And the part that Annabeth hated the most? It was the fact that she emagreed /emwith this voice. Nico had emchosen /emto be apart from The Alphas. He emdeserved /emthis. He could've stayed with The Alphas. But he had brought this fate upon himself. It just made sense this way. But this thinking hadn't stopped Annabeth's heart from breaking every time she saw Nico, all alone at the corner of the cafeteria. He had grown thinner, more than before, and was dangerously pale. She had talked to Hazel, Nico's sister. But she had said there was nothing to worry about. She was checking up on him, and made sure he ate his breakfast and dinner, even if he didn't eat lunch. But what made Annabeth go completely broken inside was that Hazel was hiding something. So, she decided to follow the siblings to their house. NO, not in a stalker-ish way, but as a protective sister. But what she had seen at their family household almost made her scream. Why? It wasn't the fact that Nico had broken off all ties to the world, barely listened to anyone, even his father, whom Nico was too afraid of to even whisper against, but it was the fact that when Hazel had walked into the bathroom at night, she had seen Nico holding a knife. Inching it closer and closer to his wrist, until Hazel had burst out behind the door and took the knife. Hazel placed it on the sink, and hugged her brother, tears streaming down her face. Annabeth was confused. emWhy? Why Nico? Why is it always him? And now this…just when I thought it was going to be okay…/emBut Annabeth learned something that day. Maybe pride wasn't always the best.
