PJatO || Reynabeth || PJatO || The Impossible Girl || PJatO || Reynabeth || PJatO

Title: The Impossible Girl – Picking up the Pieces

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus; post both series

PJatO Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Rick Riordan for he created the awesomeness that is Nico di Angelo. And everything else related to Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus. Aside from the Gods, of course. They are all copyright by the old Greeks. This fanfiction on the other hand is entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.

Warnings: shoujo-ai, fluff, h/c, dark, dealing with the aftermath of the war, past character deaths, shounen-ai, hetero, threesome

Main Pairing: Reyna/Annabeth

Side Pairings: Nico/Percy, Frank/Hazel/Leo, Jason/Reyna (past), Piper/Annabeth (past), Percy/Annabeth (past), Luke/Annabeth (past/onesided), Thalia/Annabeth (past/onesided)

Percy Jackson Characters: Annabeth Chase, Reyna Anderson, Perseus Jackson, Nico di Angelo, Leo Valdez, Hazel Levesque, Frank Zhang

Summary: Those that lived through the Giant War have lost so much. To keep it all together, to not lose anyone else, the remains of the Seven have moved in together. Most of the times, it's pretty chaotic in the house, but on other days it's dark and silent. Reyna hates watching how much this all eats Annabeth up. If only there was something she could do to change that...

The Impossible Girl

Picking up the Pieces

Sometimes this was the loneliest feeling Reyna had ever experienced, even though right now, she was surrounded by more people she loved and who also loved her than ever before.

She was sitting in her room, her legs dangling out the window as she stared down into the garden of their house. This was probably why she was feeling so lonely sometimes. The house was nice, yes. Beautiful even. And very homey. It wasn't even that she was living there alone. But sometimes, like now, she was only feeling like an observe, someone from the outside, looking in. Or in this case, from the inside, looking out.

They had a pond in the garden and in said pond were Percy and Nico currently racing each other, even though the son of death knew exactly that he would lose. But he did it to make Percy laugh. And laughing the Sea Prince did. His laughter ringed like bells through the open space, soon joined by the giggling of their bystanders. On a blanket in front of the lake, beneath a high apple tree and in its shadows, were Frank, Hazel and Leo laying. Well, Frank was leaning against the strong tree, with Hazel sitting next to him, resting her head on his shoulder, while Leo was kind of curled together in both their laps, looking as if he was sleeping.

They had moved on. Somehow they had managed to move on, Reyna marveled. She had too, in certain ways. She had left Camp Jupiter, together with them, and moved in with them. With the remains of the Great Prophecy. With Percy, Nico, Hazel, Frank, Leo and Annabeth. Sometimes, she still wondered how she had ended up in the middle of this. Nico? That was no surprise. After the war, there was no way the son of Hades would ever leave his boyfriend's side again, but somehow Reyna would have thought that Percy would want a peaceful life in New Rome. The two of them moving together, that was how it had started. After the war, after the losses and the pain and the grief and all the death, Nico didn't just want to keep his lover close though. He also wanted to keep his little sister close. Maybe it had been a joking idea at first, but Hazel seemed very caught up in the notion of moving in with her best friend and her big brother. And with Hazel came her boys. Frank and Leo. This must have been the point, Reyna assumed, where Percy knew that he too wanted to have the girl he considered a sister close by. Annabeth. Or maybe it had been all of them, not wanting the broken daughter of Athena to be on her own. This was where Reyna had come in, probably. Nico and Hazel had each other, the two siblings that didn't want to be separated. Nico had Percy and Hazel had Frank and Leo, their lovers. Leo and Percy had been best friends since the war. Annabeth had always been Percy's best friend. Frank and Hazel had been best friends way before they had become a couple. It had been Nico, who had invited Reyna to join them. What only few people knew was that Reyna had always confided in Nico, ever since the boy had dropped Hazel off in Camp Jupiter and regularly visited her. And over the war, the two of them had formed a deep-running friendship. Mostly, maybe, because they had to watch their loved ones and closest friends marching into the war as the Great Seven, while the two of them had to stand on the sidelines and watch them from afar.

It was good, most of the times it was good. Living with them, not being alone. They reminded each other that regardless of who they lost, they still had each other. But sometimes, on days like today, the losses wore too strong on Reyna.

Jason Grace, son of Jupiter. The boy that had died at the hands of Gaia.

Jason Grace, praetor of Camp Jupiter. The boy that had died during the war.

Jason Grace... first love of Reyna. The boy that had died to protect them.

They had only just gotten around their awkward feelings and started dating. All of their life had been laying in front of them. All the days not lived. All the secrets not shared.

She had lost both, her best friend and her boyfriend. Even though they never got to deepen their relationship. They had still not gotten beyond their honeymoon-phase, so to speak, their relationship had worked because they were facing life-threatening danger on a daily base. Reyna doubted it would have been that easy if they would have had a normal life. But she would never know. She would never have a chance to know.

But she was not the only one who had lost someone. No, she suspected it had hit Leo even harder than her. Because Leo had lost his two best and oldest friends. The first two people he had befriended, the first two demigods he had gone onto adventure with.

Because Jason was not the only one who had fallen. Not by far. But the ones that had hit home the hardest had been the two demigods of the Great Prophecy. Jason Grace and Piper McLean.

Reyna had never known the daughter of Aphrodite very well, but she knew how important the girl was to Leo, to whom she had been like a big sister. Even though Leo may have been hit the hardest by losing both his best friends, the one who got hit the hardest by Piper's death had been her girlfriend. Reyna frowned and stared harder down at the garden, trying to spot Annabeth.

Well, Reyna wasn't the only one being on the outside and staring in, she guessed. Annabeth was even more withdrawn than the daughter of Bellona.

"Rey! Come down and join us!", called Nico up, waving her over.

"Yeah! Then we can play three to three water ball!", grinned Percy, his arms wrapped around Nico as they stood at the shore of the pond. "Come on, it'll be fun!"

"How about you play two against two? It seems Leo is very content sleeping anyway", smiled Reyna and shook her head slightly. "I don't feel like it, guys."

"Oh", nodded Percy with a crestfallen look.

Reyna bit her lips, swinging her legs back inside and closing the window behind her. She knew Percy meant good, he was trying to cheer everyone up, he hated seeing his friends sad. Even though it was ridiculous. He too had been broken for the longest time. If it wouldn't have been for Nico, he may have never overcome the terrors he and Annabeth had to endure in Tartarus. Now he wanted to pass that comfort on to others. She didn't want to imagine how much it must have weighed down on Percy that the one person he couldn't reach was his best friend, his sister by heart.

Annabeth Chase, the Impossible Girl. Reyna's Impossible Girl.

It was what Reyna had called Annabeth in her head when they had first met. A daughter of Athena. Minerva, a goddess who had no children. Annabeth's mere existence was impossible to the Roman. It had intrigued Reyna right from the start. It had been why Reyna had sought Annabeth out to talk to her, why she had let Annabeth go when the Romans had caught up to the Argo II the first time around. The impossible girl, Reyna had needed to learn more about her, had needed to keep her safe. Somehow that was something that had been burned into Reyna's mind.

During the time that followed, during the war, Reyna had wondered, often. The daughter of Athena had been a leader to Camp Half-Blood too, if she would have been exchanged for Jason, if Reyna would have gotten the time to get to know her better, to explain Camp Jupiter to her in great detail, Reyna could picture how they may have ended up with each other.

But fate had been different. Jason had brought Piper with him to Camp Half-Blood, a girl that had as easily stolen Annabeth's heart in the months before the war. Sometimes Reyna wished she would have had that time. If she would have been exchanged, instead of Jason, if she would have gotten to see Camp Half-Blood, to spend time with Annabeth, to woo her.

That wasn't how life had gone though, no. Annabeth had fallen for Piper, the two had started dating, had been happy. And Reyna, as Jason was returned to them, had taken her chances with Jason. There had always been this thing between them, the fine line between best friends and lovers. That line that tended to blur for many. Reyna regretted never really getting to know if they were meant to be. But she suspected that, on the long run, it wouldn't have worked out.

Mainly so because the relationship she had to compare to it was Percy and Annabeth's. The best friends that were leading the camp together, becoming more as they face death and destruction at the hands of war. And Reyna knew how their relationship had ended. With Percy turning gay. Reyna chuckled slightly as she tried to imagine Jason awkwardly trying to confess being gay, just as Percy had after the Argo II had landed. Sure, it had taken Percy to lose his memories to start anew, to see Nico in a new light. Reyna knew, she had stumbled upon them as they had their first time the night before the trio went onto the quest to free death.

Sometimes she wondered, if maybe she would have had the chance to win Annabeth over, would they have worked out? It was no secret that Reyna didn't care much about gender. She only had one pattern when it came to attraction. She liked them blonde, whether they were male or female.

"You're doing it again", accused Reyna softly as she entered Annabeth's bedroom.

The house was spacious, four bedrooms, though the biggest had of course gone to Hazel, Frank and Leo. Annabeth's bedroom was right opposite Reyna's. Leaning against the door-frame, the daughter of Bellona stared over at the bed. Annabeth's bedroom was the most depressing, it was colorless and gray, spare, scarcely nothing personal in it, only the most necessary furniture. Sure, children of death liked it dark too, but due to Percy and Leo, they at least had specks of color in it. Nico and Percy's room was black and blue, very blue. The threesome had theirs in black and red, with many flame motives strewn upon the surfaces.

The daughter of Athena lifted her chin off her knees and stared at Reyna surprised. She was sitting in the farthest corner of the room, on her bed, with perfect view of the window and the door. She could often be found sitting there. Leo liked to joke that she just enjoyed sleeping in and staying in bed, but Reyna understood it as what it was. Her back was protected, no one could come at her from behind, and she had both possible exits in view so no one could surprise her. It seemed the blonde had had a panic attack again. Slowly entering the room, Reyna walked up to her.

"The whole sulking and moping thing you have going on there", whispered the black-haired woman softly. "Hey, you know you're safe here, right? As long as we stick together, we're safe here. If you had a bad dream, you can always come to one of us. You can always come to me, but if you trust Percy or someone else more, then you should go to them. Regardless who you go to, I just want you to know that you can trust all of us and talk to us, okay? We want to help you through this. I lost my lover too during the war and I'm... coping. Percy and Nico went through Tartarus too and they are doing pretty well even. I know you hit it harder, because Percy and Nico have each other to lean on, they still have their lovers to help them through this. And you not only have to deal with Tartarus alone, you also have to cope with the loss of your lover."

Annabeth stared at her with dull, teary eyes. Reyna heaved a sigh and sat down next to her, tenderly placing one hand on the blonde's knee. No one had any idea why the blonde was pulling away from them so much, while the others were helping each other, using their friendships to lean onto each other too. It had helped them and over the past two years since the war, they mostly had recovered. That was why Reyna didn't feel the same heartache anymore when she was thinking about other possible love interests aside from Jason. The only thing she didn't understand was why, whenever she did so, the only thing popping up in her head was how she and Annabeth may have worked out in a possible past scenery. It was ridiculous, she knew that. But somehow it was impossible to think of a way to be with Annabeth now. The girl was too closed off, even after two years. She didn't even give Reyna a chance to think about it, much less to act on it.

"I had a nightmare...", whispered the daughter of Athena softly.

"About Tartarus?", asked Reyna worried and leaned back against the wall.

Surprisingly enough, the blonde shook her head. "It was... Piper. But not just Piper. When I was a kid, I was on the run with Luke and Thalia. With the time, I had developed a crush on Thalia, it was just a dumb, childish crush. You know how that is with first crushes, right? Anyway, when the three of us arrived at Camp Half-Blood, Thalia had... died. Well, she came back, but she was dead. A tree. A dead tree. And when we... lived at Camp Half-Blood, Luke and I... He was all I had left of Thalia, he was all I had left at all and I... grew older and he was older and he was good looking and I... developed a crush on him... Then he turned on us all, joined the titans and in the end died during the Titan War... Then came Percy and I'm aware that he was only a mere replacement for Luke, I compensated everything with interpreting our friendship as more... And he got abducted by Hera and left me and when he returned, he could finally confess that he's gay. I don't blame him for it. He had an identity crisis, it was just my typical luck to end up stuck in the middle of it. But it was fine, because I had found love with Piper. Real love, finally. Not some one-sided crush, not some relationship I knew was doomed to fail because I had known all along that Percy was gay. I had loved Piper, so very very much. But she had left me. She had died too. Like Thalia, like Luke."

Annabeth took a deep breath and Reyna stared at her surprised. She was pretty sure this was the most she had heard Annabeth talk ever since the war was over. Gulping slightly, Reyna leaned a little closer to offer the blonde silent support. The daughter of Athena leaned against her, hiding her face in Reyna's shoulder, still breathing deep.

"Everybody leaves me. Whenever I fall in love, they leave me... Percy left me too. I know he's still there, he will always be my best friend, but ever since we had been together, something had changed between us. We should have stayed like siblings and not turned into lovers. Thalia is alive again, yes, but she's so busy being a huntress... and years had passed... And Luke... and Piper... It's me", whispered Annabeth in a soft murmur. "Why does Aphrodite hate me so much...?"

"What do you mean?", asked Reyna softly, running her fingers through blonde locks.

"Why is she only giving me those I can't have? Those I can't hold?", murmured Annabeth, barely audible. "Percy got Nico and they are inseparable... They had their ups and downs during the war, with Nico's kidnapping, but they always pulled through together. They stayed strong, as long as they were together. And even though Aphrodite had tortured Percy at the beginning, confusing the poor, already easily confused boy with me and Rachel and Calypso, but... In the end, she gave him the right one. And Hazel and Leo and Frank...? They work. They have worked since Rome, even before they were together. They were a team, they work, they make each other happy, they complete each other... Without Frank and Hazel, I doubt Leo would have lived through losing his best friends... And I, I don't... I'm happy for them, all I want is for my friends to be happy, it's just... I want to be happy too... Why can't I have someone to hold onto, who will never let me go...?"

"Well, you're holding onto me pretty tight at the moment", chuckled Reyna softly, one arm wrapped around Annabeth's shoulders. "And I promise I won't let go of you so easily, okay? We're here. Together. Now. And as long as we're here, I will make sure that you're safe and I also want to make sure that you're happy, but you're not allowing yourself to be happy..."

"How could I?", sighed Annabeth frustrated. "It never works, after all."

"Consider Leo", hummed the daughter of Bellona. "While you were at camp and gaining friends, he had been all on his own. The first friends he had made, the ones through who he had met all other friends he has now, have been taken from him. Yet he doesn't give up. He had been alone, without a lover too, for the longest time, while all around him were happy couples – Nico and Percy, Jason and me, Frank and Hazel, you and... Piper. But did you see him giving up? No. He kept going, until he too had gained happiness. And now look at him. I know, some days there is this shadow in his eyes and I know he's thinking of Jason and Piper, but most of the time, he is happy. He lives in the now, has always lived in the now. Maybe you should consider that too?"

"Living in the now?", huffed the blonde disbelieving.

"I'm not saying you should forget the losses you have endured or the failed relationships. They made you stronger. When I first met you, you had already pulled through losing Thalia and Luke and failing the relationship with Percy, yet you have been the strongest woman I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. You held your head high, regardless of what you had to endure. I know Tar-"

"Stop", interrupted Annabeth harshly. "Stop always starting with Tartarus whenever I look sad! It's not all about... That had been nearly five years ago now. And even back then, it hadn't been as hard as you may want to picture it. Because I wasn't alone. I had Percy and even if we're not lovers, even if we weren't lovers back then, we still were the strongest while being together. We're a team, an unbeatable team. We were together, that was what mattered. Nico must have had a harder time, being alone down there, but Percy helped him overcoming that feeling too. Can't you just believe me that I lived through it and that I survived? That I can handle Tartarus."

"Are you telling me that your failed love-life is wearing you down more than having been in Tartarus...?", frowned Reyna slightly stunned, staring down at the blonde in her arms.

"No. I'm not a tragic teenager girl, whose whole life resolves around romance", grunted Annabeth with an irritated glare. "It's more... The gods like to play with us and I feel as though whoever I may be interested in gets cruelly played with by the gods. Thalia. Luke. Percy. Piper. I feel like I'm the one responsible for the way their lives turn out... And I don't want anyone else to die or suffer just because I like them, just because the fates suddenly got interested..."

"Hey", interrupted Reyna softly, tightening her grip on Annabeth. "Hey, hey, hey. No. Don't. Don't think like that. It's not your fault. You're not some kind of alarm-system to the gods that tells them who to let suffer. You are not a bad person. And you are not responsible. Is that why you keep yourself locked up in your room instead of going out with us, because you fear to meet someone you could like and they may have to suffer?"

"It's... it's been a rough time", sighed Annabeth, rubbing her face. "The war, that is."

"The war has been over for two years now", whispered Reyna. "You have been hiding yourself from the world for two years now. You can't keep going like this. Percy and Nico are planning their wedding, Annabeth. Your best friend will soon be married. He's happy, he's leading a good life. I want that for you too. To be happy and have a good life."

"Thanks", smiled Annabeth softly, before frowning slightly. "But shouldn't you listen to your own advices? It's been two years, but I haven't seen you with anyone new either. Why not?"

"Because there is this... impossible girl invading my thoughts, keeping me stuck", replied Reyna softly, staring out of the window into nothing. "Maybe that's my defense against everything that had happened, I don't know. But I'm just... stuck."

"But you used to call me the impossible girl", frowned Annabeth confused.

The daughter of Bellona froze, staring at the blonde in surprise. "What?"

"Back when we first fought side by side, you joked that you could only with with the impossible girl at your side", replied the blonde, tilting her head. "You never explained to me what that meant though. But... do you... mean me? Is that it? Are you... harboring feelings for me?"

A choked laugh escaped Reyna's throat. Figured a daughter of Athena would remember such a thing. The laugh died as she turned to look at Annabeth again. There was this vulnerable, yet hopeful and true expression on her face. A soft look as she had not seen it there in a long time.

"I respect that you are not ready for such a thing. I have been respecting that for a while now. But yes, you are my impossible girl", replied Reyna in a smooth and even voice. "What can I say? I like them blonde, strong and amazing. That's... why I want you to be happy, because you mean very much to me, Annabeth. And I want to see you smile again, because I remember how beautiful your smile used to be. I want to see you laugh again, with the others. To enjoy yourself."

"My boys... Luke and Percy... I think I have a hero-complex there...", whispered Annabeth thoughtful. "But my girls... I like them strong and bad-ass, no girly girls. Like Thalia. Like... Piper. Like... like you... When we moved in together, when... You've always been there for me. You've shadowed me ever since we moved in together. Whenever our two oh so cute couples were being couple-y, you were... with me... I don't even know if you ever realized it, but you've always been there for me. All the time. You've given me more support and strength than you'd believe. I... like you... and I like how you cared for me in the past two years, but I don't... want you to get hurt."

"Annabeth", whispered Reyna, grabbing Annabeth's face. "Look at me. I can watch out for myself. We're safe. There is no war to take me away. We steer clear from the camps. We're safe here. I'm not going to leave you. And I promise you, even if I may die, I promise I will haunt Nico and force him to let me talk to you, okay? Give me the chance to make you happy. Let's try living in the now? Together? You and me? Maybe together, we can get past the last remaining scars."

"The... now...", whispered Annabeth unsure. "Maybe... I could... try that... But... But if you die, I will use Nico and hunt you down in the underworld!"

"I think I can live with that", laughed Reyna softly, slowly bridging the space between them.

The kiss was tender like a butterfly landing on a flower. It was slow and cautious, just like Reyna knew their relationship would go. But she was fine with that, it was okay. As long as she had her impossible girl. As the kiss ended, Annabeth laid down on the bed next to Reyna and closed her eyes. Reyna smiled, running her fingers through blonde hair until Annabeth was sound asleep.

/break\

"Come, let's get Reyna and Annabeth for dinner!", grinned Leo, grabbing Percy hand.

The two stumbled into Annabeth's room, Percy huffing at being pulled. "Annie! Food is-"

"Oh", whispered the Latino wide-eyed and turned around. "Okay. No food for them. Come."

The duo returned to the kitchen, where Frank and Nico were busy cooking while Hazel was setting the table. The three stared questioningly at the two giggling and blushing Greeks.

"Well? Where are Reyna and Annabeth?", questioned Hazel with one raised eyebrow.

"Busy cuddling", grinned Leo broadly. "And I call dibs on Annabeth's room as my work room!"

"Hey", grunted Frank with a frown. "I thought we'd turn it into a man-cave once they work it out?"

"I was more leaning toward turning it into a torture chamber", purred Hazel. "Right, brother?"

Nico smirked and nodded, the two children of death staring at their Greeks, Leo and Percy paling.

~*~ The End ~*~