Chapter Nine

"Instead of heading towards a big mental breakdown, I decided to have a small breakdown every Tuesday evening." - Graham Parke, No Hope For Gomez!


Unfortunately, Percy is quite familiar with crying.

Ever since senior year, he's had moments where he just breaks down.

So, he knows what to do after in order to make himself feel better. Take a shower, and eat.

Give him a break, it's what's always worked.

So after his shower (in which Percy makes sure to not wash his arm, because the tattoo guy said his wrist would hurt and washing it would be a huge pain, and also because his soulmate wrote him back and he hadn't the chance to read it yet), Percy is determined to write to his soulmate, then eat, or possibly murder his cousins for eating his waffle.

maybe today, I'll get you a tattoo. Say, you don't happen to be into tigers at all? Because I was thinking of one right across my back.

Very clever, he thinks, chuckling. He thinks for a second, before saying: are you sure about a tiger? I was thinking more of a fire-breathing dragon, but not on my back, just a full body tattoo. Do they do those?

He caps his sharpie pen and rolls his sleeve down, but runs his finger over the 's' first, feeling the familiar pressure and ache in his chest. He tugs the sleeve down and stands up, he already took his shower, crying again is not a part of the routine.

When he gets into the kitchen, both Nico and Jason are arguing. "Whoa, where's the fire?" Percy asks.

Nico frowns. "I… don't think you used that correctly." He grabs the paper bag that once held three waffles in it off the counter.

Jason glares at Nico and grabs the bag back from him. "We're trying to decide who gets to eat your waffle."

Percy makes a face and takes the bag from him. "Uh, I do. It's my waffle, and I paid for it." He pulls the soggy waffle from the bag and takes a bite out of it.

Nico is, once again, scrolling on his phone. "You're famous, Percy, you know that?"

Percy frowns into his waffle. "Yeah? I did, actually."

Jason goes into the living room and sits on the couch, searching through the cushions for the remote. "He means that you're all over the news."

"Not, like, Channel Six, or anything, but Aphrodite's gossip news channel," Nico adds. "Everyone in practically the whole world wants to know the secret of your soulmate mark."

That had always been a problem.

Percy is normal. No nasty scars (except for the one just above his eyebrow when he, Jason, and Nico decided to test out their driving skills when they were eleven; they crashed into a tree), no crazy tattoos that don't seem to have a meaning, no Names, no First Words; at one point, the world concluded that Percy Jackson was born without a soulmate. He always knew they were wrong, he does have a soulmate, she just decided to ignore him for seven years, but he didn't tell anyone that. Better to leave them in the dark, rather than cause an uproar.

So now that presumed-no-soulmate-Percy Jackson has a letter on his wrist, everyone freaks out.

"But it's not even a soulmate mark," Percy says to his cousins, chewing on his waffle. "It's literally a tattoo I got from a pretty shady guy for my mom."

Jason snorts. "Except now, every girl or questioning guy whose name starts with an 's', is freaking out. I heard that some girl in Louisiana got a tattoo of the letter 'p', but Aphrodite called her out on her show because it was on the wrong wrist."

Percy feels bad for her. "Think I should call her? Give her a high-five? That was a pretty weird thing to do and now she has a tattoo of the letter 'p' on her right wrist for no reason."

Nico shrugs and joins Jason on the couch. "I think you should leave her alone. If you visit one girl for getting a tattoo, what'd you think everyone else will do? Not get a tattoo on the wrong wrist? Highly unlikely. They'll all expect you to visit them, then when you don't, 'cause that's impossible and asking for a lot, everyone will hate you."

Percy nods into his waffle. He sees Nico steal the remote from Jason and turn the channel to Aphrodite's talk show.

Aphrodite is sitting in a bright pink chair at a blue table with a yellow backdrop, the logo for her show in the corner of the screen. She smiles sickly sweet. "Reports show from a group of teens who interviewed Mr. Jackson just this morning at a small diner attached to the apartments. They say that though Jackson did deny the mark on his arm for his soulmate, those of us out here can only hope he's lying." Aphrodite throws a hinting smirk at the camera, before delving further into the story.

Jason turns around on the couch to face him. "Did a bunch of kids really harass you about your tattoo while you were getting waffles?"

Percy nods, chewing on a piece of said waffle. "That's why it took so long."

They turn back to the t.v..

Aphrodite continues on about Percy. "For those wondering, Percy's possible soulmate mark is the first letter of the first name of his soulmate on his left wrist, so any of you out there who's name starts with an S, you could be a possible candidate." She grins, her pink lips stretching across her face. "Now, here's a picture of Jackson's possible soulmate mark that the teens who offered the story managed to snag." A picture covers the entire screen, it's of Percy's wrist, his torso and a part of his face. He's looking away from the camera, probably at the counter again, but what made Percy (in real time) almost drop his waffle, is what was on his wrist.

Not only the 'S' is visible in the picture, but also the 'maybe today…' part of what his soulmate wrote in clearly not his own handwriting. Jason and Nico pause, staring at the telly.

Aphrodite's gleaming face shows up on the screen again. "What we could only presume from the picture is that perhaps Mr. Jackson is hiding something from the public eye. That small bit of handwriting on his arm just above the tattoo could be something written by his girl, who may or may not be rooming with him in The Dakota apartments." She winks, "Now, onto our next segment: What Movie Will Meryl Streep Own Next!?. Because we all know she's the movie quee-"

Nico shuts the t.v. off. The two cousins look back at Percy who nibbles on his waffle. "Are you in a secret relationship? 'Cause, it's rude that you wouldn't tell us. We tell you everything."

"No," Percy denies, putting his waffle in his lap. "I'm not in a secret relationship. Not even a bit."

"Then what was that writing on your arm? We all know your handwriting sucks compared to that," Jason raises his eyebrow.

Percy sighs and stands from the barstools. He puts the waffle on the bag as a plate on the kitchen island and turns to his cousins. He makes a huge show of pulling up his sleeve to show them his arm. The two stand and scurry, crowding around his wrist like the teenagers once did about an hour ago.

And just above his healing tattoo is the words he had written not fifteen minutes ago. Except they're fading strangely. Percy realizes that his soulmate must be washing off his words to make room for her own. He wonders if she's doing it in the bathroom sink, or the shower. He tries to throw the thought away.

Suddenly, though, little letters start blooming on his arm like growing flowers, appearing in a trance-like way. The three boys watch in wonder as the sentence appears: fun fact: they do have full body tattoos. There's actually a guy out there who is 100% covered in tattoos. His name is Lucky Diamond Rich, you should look him up. He juggles so maybe that's a thought for your next birthday party?

It's so long and it covers his entire arm, but it's so cool and so weird. Percy wants to find his sharpie and respond now. But-

"That has to be the grossest but coolest thing I've ever seen ever," Nico walks back to the couch and flops down, taking up the entire space.

"What was that, Percy?" Jason asks.

"My actual soulmate."

Nico stands back up again. "You mean the one who completely turned deaf ear on you in middle school? You're talking to her? Why?"

Percy shrugs. "She started talking to me first. Plus I kinda felt bad about the tattoo thing, so there's that. Also, it was high school."

"Wait," Jason interrupts, putting his hand up. "How long have you been talking to her?"

Percy shrugs again and goes back to his waffle. "'Bout a day and a half."

Jason cringes. "And you're still talking about tattoos?"

Percy finishes his waffle and walks around the island to throw it away. "I mean, yeah, but the exchanges are few and far in between, so we'll get somewhere eventually."

"What's her name?" Nico asks, laying back down on the couch.

Washing his hands in the sink, he says, "I dunno. Like I said, we've only really talked about tattoos and seven years ago, we swore for some stupid reason not to tell each other our names."

"Why would you do that?" Jason asks.

"Mystery? I guess." Percy watches as his incredibly immature adult cousins wrestle over the t.v. remote. "I'm going out for lunch with my mom, bye."

Jason holds the remote above his head, out of Nico's reach. "Tell her I love her!"

Nico kicks the back of Jason's knees and grabs the remote when he doubles over. "Yeah, me too!"

Percy grabs the sharpie from his desk before he leaves.


"There are many things I'd like to say to you, but I don't know how." -Unknown

Annabeth sits in the old, uncomfortable, plastic chair in the waiting room for her dentists office. She holds her book bag in her lap and absentmindedly drums a pattern with the pen she holds on her bag. Only an amount of time ago, she had to fill out paperwork and she accidentally didn't give the pen back.

She glances around, seeing the fish swim in the glass beside her head. She folds and unfolds her legs, it's disagreeably cold in the room and she hadn't worn enough layers. The only other person in the room is a middle-aged man reading a golf magazine and the receptionist who scribbles down notes on a pad of paper every few moments, stealing glances at her computer and the clock in the corner of the room.

Annabeth checks the watch on her wrist. Her appointment should've started twenty-five minutes ago, but Timothy, an eleven-year-old with a lisp, chipped his tooth on the playground and required the only doctors immediate attention. Ergo, Annabeth has to wait.

She allows her mind to wander, perhaps her soulmate has written back. She lifts her jacket sleeve up and sees a blank arm, but in small handwriting, right up by her inner elbow, it reads: im bored

She writes under it: hi Bored, I'm Annabeth.

Wait-

She mentally slaps herself.

The rule has been since they were in middle school: never tell names. Too late for that, she thinks.

His writing appears on her arm: Annabeth, huh. I always thought you were more of a Martha.

As in Martha Stewart? Not likely.

Martha Stewart is a talented woman.

What's your name then?

My name is Bored, I already said.

Annabeth rolls her eyes, then writes: fine then, why are you so bored?

I'm on a long bus ride to my moms flat. There's nothing to do.

Momma's boy, huh?

You have no idea.

She isn't sure what next to write, so she starts doodling a pretty crappy looking flower on the back of her hand. Soon enough, when she has one petal left, it draws itself. Annabeth smiles. It's very obvious because her petals are thin ink and his is thick marker. She starts adding little dots in the middle part because people always seem to do that. Then she adds a stem. Her soulmate adds leaves. Annabeth admires their work, it doesn't look half-bad, considering half of it is in pen and the other a sharpie.

20 questions?, is what he writes next, under the previous conversation.

I'm not sure we have enough room for that.

He writes, favourite colour?

Blue, she writes immediately.

Good choice, he puts, what's the story of your first kiss?

Strange question.

Im curious

I fell down on the playground in second grade and this boy from my class picked me up, then I just kissed him because I didn't know it wasn't acceptable.

Did you ever date him?

Through high school.

Annabeth realizes she made a mistake.

That's why you stopped talking to me, he writes.

It felt like I was cheating, I'm sorry. It was petty and stupid.

She has a feeling that if he was in front of her, he'd shrug. It's fine, I had a grudge against you for awhile, but it's old news now.

She adds another leaf to the flower on her hand.

Though, he writes: Do you think aliens exist?

Yes, she says. I think they're watching us right now. Waiting for the right moment to attack.

What's your favourite physical feature of the person next to you?

I'm officially questioning your sanity.

I got these questions off of BuzzFeed.

Hmm, she writes, maybe it's the fact that he can so easily turn the pages on his golf magazine, or perhaps his bifocals? I can't decide.

He doesn't say anything for a moment. I laughed out loud and now everyone on the bus thinks I'm crazy, laughing at my own arm.

Glad to see someone thinks I'm funny. My roommate will laugh at me if I try to make a joke.

Sounds like my cousins, he writes. Where are you, by the way? I already told you I'm on the bus, so don't point fingers. Or pens.

Annabeth holds back a snort. The dentist's office. I swear, if this Timothy kid doesn't come out of the appointment room in the next ten minutes, I'll fix his chipped tooth myself.

That's … terrifying. Now it's your turn to ask me questions.

What do you look like? She absentmindedly starts doodling another flower, this time on her knee. Annabeth figures he won't see it until later, but since she's wearing shorts, she can hold the satisfaction until later.

, is what he only wrote.

I told you my name, plus, I'm curious.

I have black hair, he writes, green eyes, and I'm about average height.

Riveting, Annabeth writes, smirking. She wonders how handsome he'll be in person.

I just rolled my eyes, but you can't see, he writes.

Do you live in America?

Very personal questions, he writes, Yes, I live in New York, actually.

! me too, she excitedly tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Annabeth Chase? The doctors ready for you."

Annabeth looks up and sees a nurse standing in the doorway, holding it open for her. She glances at the exit door and sees Timothy happily licking a lollipop, though tears stream down his face. Annabeth smiles at the nurse. "One second, please."

Before she can take a glance at what Percy is writing, Annabeth writes: sorry, got to go, Timothy survived and now I'm due.

She pockets her pen and follows the nurse in for her checkup, rolling her sleeves up to her knuckles.


"The only good thing about hitting rock bottom is that it can't get any worse." -Unknown

Percy doesn't really now how to feel.

First off, he finds out that his soulmates name is Annabeth which has to be the bestest name he's ever heard. Next, he finds out that Annabeth lives in New York, and has a pretty wicked sense of humor because she didn't actually get offended by his 'Martha' comment, but instead made a joke about it. (Also the one about the guy with a golf magazine and bifocals.)

Actually, he never thought of her as a 'Martha'. He never really gave her a name. But he knows that Annabeth is better than anything he could come up with.

And to top all of his new findings, she leaves before he could finish writing his sentence. He understands what happened, though. Timothy finished getting whatever happened to him fixed and then Annabeth was called and had to go in. Percy doesn't blame her.

But the twenty minutes left of his bus ride were boring.

There was a couple groping each other madly in the front, a guy with an actual chicken in a cage, and a hand-full of crying babies.

But then the bus finally came to his stop and Percy got off, starting his walk to his mom's building. When he walks in, the whole apartment smells like coffee and fresh air. It became a habit of Sally's. When she would get home after being in a stuffy hospital for a week or so, she'd open all the windows and enjoy the fresh air. Percy figures that after her last visit to the hospital, she'd never close her windows again.

She greets him with a big hug and a kiss on the cheek, just like she always does. Then, for a few hours, Percy makes sandwiches with his mom. They eat the ones they made first, then make a bunch more so the upcoming Sunday, Sally can drop them off at the church.

Afterward, they make cookies, chocolate-chip-blue cookies, actually. An original recipe his mother and he came up with when Percy was younger.

As Sally and Percy sit at the dining table together, the smell of cookies and outside all around them, she finally decides to get something off her chest. "Percy," she says in a tone that Percy knows will soon send a dagger in his heart. "As you know, I have two months left." Her voice is soft and fragile. She's being wonderfully kind to Percy, because he feels like he's going to throw up.

He puts down his cookie, but doesn't meet her eyes.

"You know what a bucket-list is?" she asks.

"Yeah," he says. "It's a list of things you want to do before you die." He, in fact, wants to die talking about this.

His mom wipes her hands on her napkin again, though she had already done it just a minute ago. "Well, I have one thing left on my bucket-list."

Nonononononononononono.

"What is it?"

Please. No.

"I'm going to Greece, Percy."

He looks up, meeting her eyes. Sally's beautiful sky-blue eyes glisten with unshed tears. Percy doesn't understand. "You're wha- you're going to Greece?"

She sniffles. "It's where your father and I met. I want to go back there." Her voice catches. "It's where I want to die, sweetheart," she whispers.

She says it as if she's telling him about how she's thinking of filing a divorce against his father, except when she did that, she was crying harder. She has the same tone of informativeness, she knows it's important and she has to tell him, yet also disappointment, mostly in herself.

Percy really doesn't understand. Though, he feels tears sting his eyes.

No, please, don't cry in front of her.

"You want to go to Greece, and just leave me here? Mom-why?"

"Percy, it's where I want to-"

"Die, I know, you said." It comes out harsher than he intends. "I'm sorry. I-I just don't- understand." He really doesn't.

Sally wipes her eyes with her folded napkin. She places it down and thinks for a moment, then she reaches across the table and grabs Percy's hands. She looks into his eyes as she says, "Greece is where my life began, Percy. It's where I met my soulmate, where I became pregnant with you, it's where you were born. It's the beginning of everything I love, sweetheart, and I want it to be the end as well."

He's silent for a moment.

He knows the story; his mother had been telling him of her life since he was a child. She went on a trip to Greece with her Traveling Arts Club in high school. There, she met a sailor who showed her around. There, she fell in love. There, she got pregnant. But, as Sally would say in a low, excited voice when she would tell Percy the story, she didn't know, and she went back to Long Island, back to school. She found out she was pregnant just before graduation, so, taking all of her college money, she flew back to Greece after she earned her diploma and found her love again. She gave birth to a son who resembled his father more than anything. Then the three moved to New York, the adults got jobs, they got a small apartment where they raised their son to be who he is today.

Though, when Percy was eleven, his father showed around the house less often. Months he'd be gone. Then Sally sat Percy down at this exact table, in this exact position and told him his parents would be going on a break. A divorce, more like it.

"When—When will you leave?" Percy manages to get out.

She smiles sadly. "In one month, I've booked my ticket already." She smiles excitedly, "First class."

Percy smiles for his mom and squeezes her hand. She may have two months, but Percy only has one. "I'm happy for you, mom," he says truthfully, "but I-I just don't-"

"I know, Percy," she says, "I know." And for the first time since his parents split, Sally cries in front of Percy.

And it takes everything in him not to do the same.


hello hello there

{before you go on, this authors note is probably going to be vv long}

you guys, i mashed three seperate chapters together to give you this long number. the different chapters would've been where each quote is, and omg you guys. i felt like each upload, the chapters were just too short and few between so this story might not be 20 chapters, but the chapters themselves will be longer. (thumbs up!)

Ahhhhhh! first of all: percabeth! r u kidding me?

second of all: sally? going? to? greece? how is our seaweed brain going to deal w that one you guys. i just don't know. well i do, but you're gonna have to figure that one out.

i'm going to do something that i have never done before: review responses! why? I don't know! i feeeeel like it

I Am Definitely Jeff Bridges: I absolutely love all the ways you're contriving to stop them realising they're each other's soulmates (though I'm beginning to wonder how long you can keep it up!) Looking forward to the next chapter, as always! : i know right! when I was writing this, i just knew my readers would be quite frustrated about that, and as evil as it may be, i'm just over here in my fancy spinny chair, evil laughing as i read my prewritten chapters. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing, your responses always bring a smile to my face. -Leigh

Happiness needs a refill: Great chapter as always, pls continue the good work. And ,I NEED MORE THIS IS SOO GOOD, hope you have a nice day. : hopefully this is a good length chapter! idk what i was thinking when I origionally numbered them. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing, I hope you have a wonderful day! - Leigh

The Patil Twins: loved it : you're honestly so sweet lol, you always review even if it's just a short, two worded review. Every chapter I upload I know you're gonna comment and I love it. SO THANK YOUU! I hope you have a good day (or evening!) -Leigh

IAmHelenOfTroy: OOOOOOOOO PIPERRRRRRR OOOOOOO lol sorry, im fangirling over a fanfic lol : there is NO SHAME in fangirling over fanfic lol. (sometimes i fangirl over my own stories yikes) I LOVE YOU GIRL THANK YOU FOR BEING AMAZING. HAVE A FANTASTIC DAY. -Leigh xox

unicorn horn power: I love it, i love it all : i love you, i love you all. but seriously thank you, and also you have an awesome username. have a great day! -Leigh

Percabeth284: Yes! I love this story so much! Can't wait for the next chapter! : thank you! i feel like i can always count on seeing your username in the reviews and it always brings such a smile to my face. i hope you're still loving this story and i also hope you have a great day. (beautiful username btw? fantastic) -Leigh

Savanna: OMG! I love that you are gonna make Piper and Jason get together even though they are not soulmates. It is great and you are an amazing writer. You should totally continue! :-p : thank you so much! (when i was writing this i was like"... how to make the sweetest relationship possible?" and tada: non-soulmates but still together Jason and Piper was born. and they are flourishing. Thank you so much for the compliments and i hope you have a fantastic day! -Leigh

righty-o ladies and gents that's all the reviews to respond to! (at least for last chapter) tell me! what do you think is gonna happen next? how will percaeth finally come to be? what about jiper? and what's going on with sally going to greece? who knows.

i hope you all have an amazing weekend and rest up for next week! I larb you.

(if you get that reference you are now my wife or husband or neutral significant other because it's 2018 and we support everyone in this fandom let's gooo!)

- Leigh