Hey guys. I start every intro like that, don't I? Funny. Anyway, this chapter doesn't have a lot going on, but I really want to show that Annabeth is really not okay after all of this. So it's probably going to be pretty boring, so sorry about that. Moving on. Thank you guys so much for all the reviews. I always get so excited when I see I have another one. They make me really happy, so thanks. All rights go to the greatest writer in the world, Mr. Rick Riordan. And as always, I hope you guys enjoy the story. :)

Piper

Piper waked up the stair, they creaked under her weight. The floor swayed under her. They were drifting on the ocean now. They didn't go into the water a lot lately for multiple reasons that don't need to be repeated. She was lucky she wasn't sea sick right now. Poor Hazel was already in the bathroom. She pushed open the door and stepped in. Annabeth was sitting at the table, hand around he sword as it rested on the table. She stared forward.

"Hey." Piper reached across her to grab an apple that sat on a bowl in the center of the table.

"Hey." Annabeth said. Piper immediately knew something was wrong. Her voice was chocked, yet hard. It was filled with all the emotions she refused to let out. Piper turned towards her and saw her eyes sparkling with unshed tears.

"What's wrong." She sat down next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Piper felt guilt eating at her. They were all taking advantage of Annabeth. Annabeth was trying as hard as she could to act like her normal self, and they were all just going along with it. They all knew she needed help, but none of them were brave enough to act on it. Percy would have been ashamed of them. Not even the fact that it was Annabeth, but if it was any of them, Percy would be right by their side, a shoulder to cry on.

"Nothing." She said, a clear lie.

"C'mon Annabeth. What's going on in that head of yours?" Piper shifted in her seat, not sure what to say. Annabeth had lost so much in her life, and she had tried to move on with Percy, and then he was gone too. She had never seen someone suffer as much as Annabeth had.

"I'm just-" Her voice was impossibly small. "I'm just wondering how he died." Piper felt a dull punch to her gut. She opened her mouth, but no words came out. Surprisingly, Annabeth wasn't crying. She was one thousand times stronger than Piper could ever be. To her knowledge, Annabeth had only broken down three or four times in the two and a half weeks he'd been gone.

"I wonder if it was by someone we knew." Annabeth finally looked at Piper. Her grey eyes were stormy grey.

"Maybe Tartarus came back and did it. Maybe he died five minutes after we saw him." She stared at the cup in her hand. Piper suddenly felt sick. Tartarus?! She and Percy met Tartarus?! Like, his physical form? How on earth did they manage to survive. She looked at Annabeth and her pale, usually tan face. It was almost as if she'd never met her before.

"Maybe it was Nyx, or one of her children. Or the arai, or the empusai reformed. Or maybe the drakon. Or maybe someone we had never met before." This was the first time Annabeth had even mentioned what had happened in Tartarus. Everyone had been too scared to ask. They had speculated when Annabeth wasn't around. Formulated theories. Now Piper felt as if she was better not knowing.

"He might still be alive." She said weakly, no clue what words would make this situation better. "We don't know for sure." That was the wrong thing to say. Annabeth looked at her with a look Piper couldn't figure out the meaning of.

"He can't be. Not alone. I mean, Nico only survived because Gaea captured him and we only survived as along as we did because we had each other and Bob and Dameson." She shook her head at those names.

"Who?" Piper dared to ask.

"Bob and Dameson. They died helping us. They died because of me. Because I dragged Dameson along with us and because I was so stupid to not realize that the floor was crumbling and fell into Tartarus that required Bob's help in the first place. They're dead because of me. And you know who else's death is my fault? Percy's. So many people are dead and it's all my fault and I just have to live with that." She was on her feet, eyes filled.

"Why couldn't Percy just let me go with him? He spends his whole life protecting other people but refuses to be protected himself. If I had gone maybe he stood a chance. If I had gone maybe he wouldn't be dead and I wouldn't have yet another death on my conscious, this time no one helping me with all the guilt. He left me alone." Her voice broke on that last word. She didn't cry, just had her vision blurred by all the tears. She slowly sunk back into her chair. Piper was at a loss for words.

"Annabeth, I-" An alarm rippled through the room. It was the 'hey there's a monster up here and I could use some help' alarm. Piper heard footsteps going upstairs. Annabeth grabbed her sword and headed to the door.

"No, Annabeth, stay here. I'll handle it." Piper grabbed her hand. Annabeth turned around.

"No. I'll go. And I'm going to fight the monster. And then later I'll fight the next one. Over and over again. This cycle will never stop. I've never had a break from it. And I guess I never will." She pulled her hand free, eyes clear now, and walked through the doorway. Piper stood there, feeling a sinking feeling fall over her. Annabeth was one of her best friends and she was in a position where Piper had no clue how to help. She headed up towards the fight.

Later that night after they had all defeated Piper was on the computer. Technically it was Annabeth's, but she said when she wasn't using it, anyone was welcome to get on it. Piper minimized all of Annabeth's open tabs, she wouldn't dare close them out. She googled the name "Percy Jackson" and started looking at the results. She didn't know why, but she felt as if she owed it to him and to Annabeth to know a bit more about it.

The first result was an article about Percy and a woman she assumed to be his mother being missing. She frowned, reading it through twice. The next was a video of a news story. The clip that was the cover was of a news reporter. She clicked on it. The reporter popped onto life and started talking about how he had been missing and framed by his stepfather, a man named Gabe Ugliano.

"I didn't know Percy had a stepfather." Jason was behind her, closely followed by Leo. Piper just shrugged. Suddenly, a twelve year old Percy Jackson came onto the screen. Jason let out a breathy half felt laugh.

"Wow he looks so young." And that he did. His hair was thinner, darker. His face rounder and softer. He clearly seemed to be faking for the cameras, talking about how his stepfather would gladly give everyone a free appliance from the store. Piper snorted a little. Then, a twelve year old Annabeth and Grover came on to the screen and started talking about how they were kidnapped by some man they didn't know the name of. The clip was over.

Frank and Hazel were in the room now, all dragging over chairs and sitting by her. Piper felt sadder and more over whelmed as she scrolled through Percy Jackson's life. There were articles about him being involved in the destruction of a school and then fleeing the scene. About how he caught fire to another with Rachael. How he fell out of the St. Louis arch. How he blew up a bus, was caught on camera with his kidnapper outside a diner, how he had a pistol fight on the beach.

Piper went to bed, head buzzing with all the new information she had learned about someone she had shared a home with for weeks, yet knew so little about. One day, when they got back to camp, she would make it her mission to find out about him. But, not now. Not with Annabeth. Piper closed her eyes against her pillow.

The gods were cruel. They sent her something she knew was real for a dream. Percy and Annabeth were younger, maybe fourteen. They both had the grey streaks in their hair from their time holding the sky. The world around them was impossibly hot. It had a reddish glow to it. They seemed to be arguing about something. Piper didn't want to, but she moved closer.

"Put your cap back on. Get out!" Percy seemed panicked about something, almost a desperate look in his eyes.

"What?" Annabeth looked startled to hear him say that. She seemed to get even more angry. "No! I'm not leaving you." Piper suddenly knew what was about to happen. She had heard this story around the Camp Half-Blood camp fire.

"I've got a plan. I'll distract them. You can use the metal spider- maybe it'll lead you back to Hephaestus. You have to tell him what's going on."

"But you'll be killed." Annabeth looked livid.

"I'll be fine. Besides, we've got no other choice." Annabeth stared at him for a long moment. Then she kissed him full on the lips. The way Percy's eyes widened and his face got red, Piper was positive this was their first kiss. She didn't know about that. Maybe Percy and Annabeth had never told anyone.

"Be careful, Seaweed Brain." She started to leave. Annabeth followed her. A couple minutes later, the volcano, which was getting smaller and smaller to Annabeth, exploded. Annabeth whipped around and screamed, but it was too late.

Piper woke up in a cold sweat. There was something especially ominous. It wasn't that Percy got hurt, because she knows he survived, but it was because it was eerily familiar. Percy's tone was the same, Annabeth's scream. It was exactly the same situation. Different times, same outcome. Percy sacrificed himself for Annabeth's safety. Annabeth's present words echoed through Piper's mind.

He spends his whole life protecting other people but refuses to be protected himself. Annabeth was right. Piper laid back down on her pillow, but her eyes remained wide. She knew she couldn't go to sleep that night. She stayed like that till morning, the scenes of the volcano and the doors intertwining through each other until they became hard to distinguish.