Chapter 27
For once Annabeth wasn't stuck at the desk dealing with the annoying lords and nobles. Instead, her father was there, having asked her to instead start sorting through various texts and get them back in the correct order on the shelves. She couldn't understand how they got so messed up when the system was simple, and yet here she was, shifting around the books. Honestly she wasn't sure if she preferred this tediousness or dealing with assholes.
"Annabeth, could you come here please? You have a visitor." Annabeth blinked a bit in surprise. The only person she could think of that would be there for her was Percy, but why would he show up here? She was supposed to go meet him in about an hour anyway.
Frowning in confusion, she slipped the book she had been holding into its place on the shelf, before turning to make her way back towards the front of the room. As she came around the last bookshelf, she stopped, finding Piper standing there. Immediately she dropped into a curtsy for a moment, bowing her head "Your highness, what can I do for you?"
Honestly Annabeth didn't think Piper cared that much about formalities, but she was sure her father would give her a lecture about it if she hadn't shown the proper respect. Piper just looked over at her and smiled a bit, though it didn't seem quite genuine "I was hoping you could help me with something, if you aren't busy?"
"Of course my lady, I wasn't working on anything that can't be finished later." She had no idea what Piper wanted, but she was fairly sure it would be more entertaining than sorting books "I am supposed to go help the prince with his studies in about an hour though."
"That shouldn't be an issue," Piper assured, nodding, before turning back to thank her father for his help.
As soon as they were out of the room Piper's smile dropped. She looked over at Annabeth, before sighing and coming to a stop to look at her fully. Still confused, Annabeth did the same, waiting for Piper to speak.
"Percy said you knew each other before he found out about his father." This had not been where Annabeth was expecting it to go, and her immediate thought was that somehow Piper had found out about Friday night and was going to confront her about it. Instead Piper followed the statement up by asking "You two are friends, right?"
"Yeah, he's my- my best friend-" Annabeth said with slight surprise. Maybe they were more than that, or at least they would have been, but getting into the confusion that was her and Percy right now, and with Piper of all people, didn't seem like a good idea. Or like something she wanted to do.
"Good," Piper sighed again, "Something is wrong. I haven't seen him since Saturday morning. He was supposed to come to my room to take me to dinner that night but he never arrived. Yesterday I went to his room to see what was the matter, but Jason merely said Percy didn't want any visitors. I spent most of yesterday trying to figure out what to do and coming up blank. This morning I remembered the look he got when he mentioned you and I thought- that maybe he would be willing to talk to you."
When she had said something was wrong, Annabeth had immediately thought of the kiss again, but that didn't make sense. That was Friday night, and she had said he was fine at breakfast on Saturday. Concern filled her. There were only a few times when Percy had completely shut down, and those times terrified her. What the hell could have happened?
"I- I can try-" Annabeth wasn't completely sure what she could do, but she had to try. It was taking a lot for her to not just turn and hurry off to Percy's room without waiting for Piper.
"Thank you," Piper let out a breath "I think it will be better if I don't accompany you. I just- wanted to let you know."
"Of course, thank you my lady," Annabeth said, nodding a bit to her in return. Piper looked as if she wanted to say something else, but she just nodded, and as soon as she did, Annabeth turned and was heading down the hallway.
Her head spun to figure out what was going on. Was it something to do with Sally? That was what it had been last time, and for a moment even more concern filled her, worried about the woman.
That didn't make sense either though. She knew Percy would sneak out to see his mother, but he wouldn't have done it in the middle of the day, and not two days in a row. It must have been whatever his father had sent him to do. That was the only thing that made sense with the timeline. But what could he possibly have done that was bad enough to make Percy hide in his room?
Her brain was still spinning when she reached the door, finding Jason standing outside it. When he saw her, he raised an eyebrow a bit "Annabeth? You're early-"
"Yes, but I need to talk to Percy," Annabeth replied, trying to appear as composed and calm as usual.
"He doesn't want to see anyone," Jason sounded a bit awkward at that "He hasn't been feeling well the last few days."
"Jason- please, just ask him," Annabeth sighed a bit as she looked over at him. At first she thought he was going to deny the request, but to her relief Jason nodded and turned to enter the room.
For a moment Annabeth was left alone in the hallway, trying to figure out how she was going to get around Jason if Percy didn't want him to let her in. Normally she wouldn't be to worried about that, but given the weekend, what if he didn't want to see her?
Despite her worries, Jason reappeared about a minute later, and moved to hold the door open for her. Annabeth let out a sigh of relief, softly saying "Thank you," before entering.
Percy was sitting on the edge of his bed, elbows resting on his knees and looking down at the ground, though when he heard the door close he glanced up and gave her a small smile, though it was clearly forced "Hey-"
"Hey."
He was still wearing his pajamas, and based on the plate of food on the side table it didn't seem like he'd eaten, at least not yet today. It had been a long time since she had seen him this bad. She couldn't tell if he was angry or upset, but based on the surroundings and what Piper said it had to be one of the two. He would carry those emotions around with him till it got to a point where it all came out at once. Which mean she had to try and stop it from getting to that point.
Annabeth bit her lip a bit, before making her way over to the bed. Sitting down, she looked over at him for a long moment "Are you alright?"
For a moment she wasn't sure he was going to respond. He was looking at the ground again, and part of her worried he was mad at her or upset about what had happened in the barn. That he wouldn't want to talk to her. But he had let her in after all, and after a moment he finally spoke, voice barely above a whisper "No."
"What's wrong?" She moved to slide her hand into his without really thinking about it, sighing a bit when she felt him tense, knowing that he was debating pulling it away. In the end he let it be, but he didn't respond.
"I- I'm not mad, or upset, if you're worried about that. What happened was as much my fault as yours. I don't know if you're mad at me for leaving, and it's okay if you are, but I'm not mad at you. And you're still my friend, my best friend, I don't want that to change." Honestly Annabeth wasn't completely sure what she was saying, or if it would help, but she squeezed his hand a bit as she finished "Please Percy, talk to me."
Had she ruined everything? Everything she had said was true, and it had needed to be said, but she hadn't meant it to ruin things. They couldn't be more than friends, but that didn't mean she didn't want to still be friends. Percy had talked a lot recently about not wanting to lose her, but she wasn't sure she could afford to lose him either.
"I met my father's men at the stable like I was supposed to," he said softly, squeezing her hand a bit as he did so. It was clear he was struggling to talk about this, and that just made her all the more worried. "They took me into the woods- wouldn't really tell me what was going on, I'm not sure why. Maybe because they thought I wouldn't have gone with them or tried to stop them- which I would have. At least, I hope I would have."
"Percy, what happened?" Annabeth pressed, shifting a little closer so her arm was touching his. With most people it would have been rude to push, but when Percy shut down like this, the best thing was to get him talking. If you didn't he would just sit with his emotions, not wanting to bother anyone with them. "Did they do something to you?"
"Not to me." Percy closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, and Annabeth could tell he was still holding a lot back, that he was struggling to talk about this, but at least he was talking. "We came to a camp, some of the men dismounted, me included, some stayed on their horses. They told me the camp was full of criminals, that the woods was the king's land, and that by setting up camp on it they were breaking the law. I don't think that was the real reason we were there though. If it was, why show up with swords ready to attack, why not just ask them to leave?"
Annabeth didn't say anything, just bit her lip a bit as she waited for Percy to continue. Her stomach twisted a bit as she started to put the pieces together herself, but she didn't want to guess and be wrong, or interrupt him now that he actually was talking.
"I was told to just stay back and watch- that I wasn't there to do anything more than that. At the time I was so confused, I just nodded in agreement, and watched as the men headed into the camp. As soon as they appeared the people started to scatter. Before the soldiers even said anything, the men on the horses were riding out, swords were pulled. The campers didn't seem to want to fight- they were just trying to get away, and the soldiers-" Percy stopped, his free hand clenching a bit. He was angry. That was obvious now, but there was more than that.
It was the same way he used to get when things got really bad with Gabe. Beyond angry at how the man had treated his mom, while at the same time upset by what he had seen. Not to mention guilty that he hadn't done anything to try and stop him.
Annabeth didn't need him to finish for her to put together what had happened. The guards had attacked the people in the camp, and Percy hadn't been able to do anything but stand there and watch while the people got hurt. Biting her lip a bit, she squeezed his hand again "Why were they there? If it wasn't to stop people who were on the king's land?"
"They were druids," Percy said softly, still not really looking at her as he spoke. His guilt was written all over his face now. He was still trying to hide it, but the more he spoke the more the emotions came out, and the more clearly Annabeth could figure out what he was thinking. He had never been as good at hiding them as he liked to believe, at least not to her.
"Hey- you couldn't have stopped them Percy," She said softly, reaching up with her free hand to move some of his hair out of his face. It was an old habit from before when his hair would get longer. Now it was all neatly trimmed, and she found the gesture useless, the hair short enough that it just fell back. "You couldn't have taken on the guards, and if you were there or not the same thing would have happened."
"They killed them Annabeth-" His eyes met hers' for the first time since she'd entered the room. She could see the pain in the deep sea green eyes. Than he looked away, and he took a shaky breath before speaking again "And- and I'll I did was stand there and- and watch-"
"I know," Annabeth said softly, moving to put her arm around him, pulling him close so she could try to reassure him "I know. But that was all you could do Percy. You should be upset, that's a horrible thing to have seen, but you can't blame yourself for not doing anything."
Percy didn't reply, just leaned into her and wrap his arms around her as well, his forehead resting on her shoulder. It should have been awkward given how much taller he was than her, but it wasn't, and even if it was that wasn't what Annabeth was thinking about. Instead she just kept her arms around him tightly rubbing his back and mumbling reassurances. She wished there was something more she could do, but really that was all there was.
It was a while before Percy finally pulled away, raising his hands to wipe at his eyes. Annabeth hadn't even realized he was crying, but she supposed it made since for him to be. She was upset just thinking about it, she couldn't even imagine what it must have been like for him to see it. To watch as the guards killed people for no real reason.
Taking a deep breath, Percy looked down at the bed for a moment, before softly saying "I don't want to do this Annabeth- I don't think I can- order people to do stuff like that. If this is what being a prince is- being a king will be- what I'll end up becoming- I don't want to do this"
"Hey- Percy, look at me," She gently raised her hand to lift his chin a bit to try and meet his eyes "That was your father, not you. You are going to have to make hard decisions- and sometimes it might lead to people dying, but you are a good person Percy. You would never have made that order."
Gently she reached up to run a hand through his hair without really thinking about it, hoping the physical contact would help keep him focused on what she was saying and not his thoughts "You said part of the reason you wanted to do this was to help your mom and the people in town. It seems to me you just found more people that need your help."
Slowly, Percy nodded a bit, and to Annabeth's relief he did seem to be calming down slightly now, looking at her for a long moment again "I'm sorry-"
"You don't have to be sorry. It's fucked up, and you shouldn't have had to see it," Annabeth assured, squeezing his hand to reassure him "But the reason he sent you was because the king thinks it's something you need to get used to seeing. You shouldn't get used to it. So you need to pretend like you're okay. The sooner he thinks you're okay with it, the less he will be trying to press you to be."
"I know- it's just- it's hard," Percy sighed a bit, looking away from her again and taking a deep breath again before speaking "And I'm sorry about- about all of this- I didn't really realize until the other night how much this has affected you too. I didn't think it would affect anyone except me and my mom. I should have thought about it before I agreed-"
"It's okay Percy," Annabeth, sighed, but squeezed his hand again, and gave him a small smile "Like I said, it was your decision to make. I'm glad you made it."
Despite her words, it had hurt a bit when he made the decision without even talking to her. She understood why. As soon as Poseidon had offered to help his mom Percy's decision had been made, but that was exactly the type of stuff they were supposed to talk about. She was glad that Percy had made the decision on his own, not really sure what she even would have told him, but she wished he had at least come to her to talk about it.
Slowly Percy nodded, giving her a small smile in return and squeezing her hand back "I'm glad you're here."
"I'm glad I am too," Annabeth said, smiling a bit more as she thought about it "I meant what I said. You're still my friend Percy, I still care about you. If you need me I'm going to be there."
"Thank you," Percy nodded in agreement, and he didn't have to say it for Annabeth to know he would be there for her as well "I- would you mind staying a little longer then?"
"Of course."
Smiling a bit, Annabeth moved a little closer to him, just squeezing his hand as she sat, letting Percy direct where he wanted the conversation to go.