Annabeth knew it was a good day. All of her strikes and swings were perfectly precise: they all ended up hitting the area of where a heart should be. She was currently in the Arena, cutting down some dummies in order to kill off an amount of nervous energy that was building up in her chest after Leo told her that the ship was nearly ready. She knew why practicing fighting always helped since it usually allowed her to feel better. No diaries for me, Annabeth thought, dummies and a knife are good enough.
Her final swing was stopped in midair as she felt a twinge of sadness momentarily stop her rapidly beating heart. She felt her grasp on the knife loosen as it fell to the ground, sending a minimal gust of dirt into the air beside her leg. All of this happened because out of the blue, a picture of Percy flashed into her head.
Even though it was a hard task to do, Annabeth managed to continue living her life by making herself busy. For example, along with her normal Camp Half-Blood duties, she would help Chiron around the Big House or lend a helping hand to the Demeter Cabin. With these tasks, she tried not to think about her missing boyfriend. This trick was working for about a week or so, but she still found herself running to various places where she knew he would be. Whenever this would occur, the same feeling of shocking disappoint would leak back into her veins, as if this present emotion was blood too.
Her head perked up once she heard footsteps coming into the arena. She turned around, her eyes easily finding the intruder. She recognized him instantly, even if he was a new guest to Camp. She couldn't really trust herself nowadays because she was an emotional wreck, but she got to know Jason pretty quickly. For some reason, she knew that his position was to replace Percy's but only briefly. Once they arrived at Camp Jupiter, Percy would be back at Annabeth's side in a matter of minutes. Although she has discovered that she works well with Jason, he's no comparison. She managed a small smile at the son of Jupiter as he approached her.
"Hey, Jason," She regarded his presence. He jutted his chin up in a nod to recognize her.
"Hey, Annabeth," He now stood a couple of feet away from her, his hands in his pockets. Although it fit, the Camp Half-Blood shirt he was wearing didn't seem right. It seemed to awkwardly highlight the SPQR tattoo on his arm, as if the shirt was trying to point out that he didn't belong here. Annabeth, with her deep insight, knew he was her for a reason. When you've dealt with the ways of the gods for as long as Annabeth has, you get to pick up their strategies, even if you're not a demigod of Athena.
"Is there anything wrong?" She asked him, arching an eyebrow. "Are you a messenger for Chiron?" Jason smiled and shook his head. Automatically, the scar on his lip rippled with this amiable movement.
"No, he didn't. I just wanted to come in here. Saw you were lonely." He shrugged with both of his shoulders before he looked up at her with earnest eyes. Annabeth felt her smile grow a bit wider.
"All right," She nodded. "There's no harm in that." She bent down and picked up the knife. With the protectiveness of a mother, Annabeth dutifully wiped off some dirt that lingered on the bronze blade of the knife with the edge of her shirt. Once she looked back up, she saw that Jason had his weapon of choice changed. Annabeth still smiled through her sudden wave of sadness. Although from Roman lineage, Jason reminded Annabeth of Percy in more ways than one.
"Do you want to use dummies or something?" Her eyebrows rose as she asked the question. "I mean, we have more." She gestured to the terminated ones behind her. Jason shrugged again.
"It doesn't matter to me," He replied. "I can swordfight with anything, really." He cracked another smile at the girl, but it was a knowing one. Annabeth could tell because she usually smiled the same.
"Okay," She nodded. "Do you want to show me what you got?" She challenged him. Jason's smile grew as he nodded.
Annabeth expected him to lunge towards her. She, with experience, blocked off the swing of his sword with her knife. She then pushed him off with an amount of strength she didn't know she would have at the moment. Jason stumbled back a bit, causing more dust to rise into the late afternoon air. Jason was fully expecting Annabeth's next swing to his left shoulder.
Even though he had forgotten some of his training from Camp Jupiter, he knew the Greacus's ways of fighting were different. Unlike the Roman orderly way of fighting, their moved were unexpected and they totally made it up as they went along. In a way, this could work, but he always trusted the Roman way of fighting. As their different tastes of weapons clashed and glinted with the rays of the sun, Jason began to talk.
"I know this is going to sound very forward," He started through heavy breaths, "But, you're really lucky." Annabeth gave him a questioning look through their weapons that currently made an X before she bent down and swiped Jason's legs out from under him. Yeah, Jason grimaced, really unexpected. Annabeth stood over him with a hand on her hip, her knife in her other hand. Jason sat up, struggling a bit for his breath. Annabeth frowned a bit and helped her fellow comrade up. Once Jason regained his normal breathing, he explained himself.
"What I meant is that you're lucky to be in love with your best friend." He saw that Annabeth was still giving him a quizzical glare and he continued. "I mean, at least you know who your friends are. And I know that I'm slowly regaining my memories back, but I'm still a little fuzzy on everything." He scratched his head for emphasis. Annabeth nodded because she finally understood what he was saying. No, he was almost complementing her.
"I don't even know if Piper and Leo are really my friends," He shook his head. "I know that they think they know me, but they could truthfully be strangers." Annabeth's eyebrows furrowed. For awhile now, Jason had been keeping this stern mask. She knew that he was ultimately confused, but she knew that he had to keep calm. But yet, right in front of her, this mask was melting away, showing a scared, vulnerable teenager like she has been on so many accounts. She didn't know how or if she should comfort Jason, so she lightly took his arm and led him to the nearest bench of the seating.
She didn't speak but her eyes were on him. He had his face buried in his hands, slowly breathing. Annabeth didn't know if she was honored or the wrong person to see this strong boy crumbling like a marble statue right in front of her. She had seen Percy break down before, but she felt like she had the right to comfort him strictly because she was his girlfriend. She and Jason were only a mutual level. Maybe if she went and got Piper. . .
"I-I'm sorry for acting like this," Jason gave her a serious apologetic look as he pulled his hands away. "I guess everything finally got to me." Annabeth shook her head and sat up a bit straighter.
"It's fine, Jason, really. This may be hard to believe, but I've been in your position a couple of times myself. And not only am I saying this to make you feel better, but I do know what you're going through, even if I may not be suffering from a case of god-stricken dementia." Jason felt a smile return to his lips as he nodded.
"Thanks, Annabeth. I appreciate everything you've done so far."
"It's the least I can do," She frankly said with a shrug of her shoulder. Jason started to nod until something caught his gaze. Annabeth followed where he was looking and she saw Piper standing in the doorway of the Arena. From where Annabeth was sitting, she could tell that Piper was apolitically smiling in their direction. Jason forwarded the same kind of smile at Annabeth.
"I guess that's my cue to go," He said. "I hope you don't mind?"
"No, of course not," Annabeth shook her head. There was a short pause before Jason nodded and got up.
"All right," His hands returned to his pockets. "I'll see you later, Annabeth." She nodded quickly before sending a small smile in his direction.
"Bye," She replied. She watched him leave and once Jason reached Piper, Annabeth saw their hands clasp together before they finally departed from the Arena. Annabeth sighed. She was lucky that she was in love with her best friend, even if he was in another state. That only gave her more motivation to get him back.
