The Chapter most of yall have been waiting for! And I just gotta say, I love Frank, he's a wonderful person but also he does sorta put his foot into it at times-but it was a good time this thing.
Replies:
Weirdhead: That is coming up, but there's a couple of chapters before that.
JjlovesPJO: You're gonna love this chapter- and next chapter, or I do. It's a big confrontation and emotional stuff, including some misplaced anger.
Undeath9087: Well the Aphrodite is coming up, so you'll have to wait and see for that.
Oujiswan: Whoop, sorry not sorry my deary.
AkitoshTheBold: I mean, they're definitely going to feel regret, much much regret. Also much misdirected anger.
Deborah Swenson: Heheheheh.
Drizzle: I have everything all planned out, you shall all see.

If she was being honest Rachel was relieved when Nico and Hazel pulled Percy, Frank and Grover blow deck to the makeshift infirmary. It was hard, being around Percy- and Rachel knew Annabeth felt the same thing. Neither of them were handling it well.

It was cruel. They'd just gotten Percy back and then she just cut them off as if she didn't even really care about what it would do to them.

She'd dressed it up with pretty words but it was simple. She was dumping them. She acted as if she was doing them a favor- as if they weren't both still desperately in love with her. It was infuriating, and the only thing stopping her from tearing Percy a new one was the fact that they were in the middle of a quest and the last thing they needed was more arguing right now.

And she watched as Annabeth spoke to Leo, asking him how long they had before they'd get to Charleston, making plans when he told them that Festus had just detected a large group of eagles behind them- which logically speaking had to be the Romans giving chase.

Soon enough, thankfully, Leo had come up with a plan- admittedly it would slow them down by a few hours- but it was agreed that it was necessary. Buford- Leo's three legged mechanical sentient table- which Rachel was willing to admit was very cool if weird.

Soon enough Buford was gone and Annabeth and Rachel headed to their rooms, where she and Annabeth tried to relax, Annabeth had tried to spend some time on her laptop before Rachel had managed to pry it away from her and curl up with her head in the other girls lap as Annabeth flopped backwards onto the bed, though her fingers tangled in Rachel's curls- a comforting gesture.

"Annabeth-"

"I know." Annabeth's voice was barely above a whisper. "I know."

"I hate this. It's so... uncomfortable."

"It's not our faults." Annabeth soothed, "It's hers. I don't get it. I really don't I- one minute she's acting like nothing's wrong and the next she's just- ugh.
She's telling us that she's different as if we care about that! And- and what she said about- saying that she doesn't love us anymore."

"I know." Rachel twisted her head so that she could press her cheek into the palm of Annabeth's hand, "I know. We should forget her. If she doesn't-" Rachel shook her head, "It's not worth it. She's not worth it if she feels like that." despite her words Rachel's chest felt tight- because gods but it hurt. Knowing that they'd lost her, they'd gotten her back and then she'd just shut them out. And it wasn't as if she was even giving them a chance to figure out a way to make it work. That was cruel. Especially with everything that Annabeth was going though- it drove Rachel insane- the whole situation with Athena was getting to Annabeth, and Percy had even used that as an excuse- as if Annabeth or Rachel could ever have been anything but overjoyed at Percy's return to life. As if Annabeth's quest wasn't a perfectly reasonable price to pay- Rachel knew for a fact that as worried about the quest as Annabeth was, she'd been far happier that Percy was back even if it meant she had to keep her promise to her mother.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by a knock on the door, and she shifted slightly as Annabeth pushed herself up so that she was sitting. "Hello?"

Rachel wasn't really sure who to expect- possibly Thalia- she was very firmly on their side in the whole thing- she was pissed off at Percy- apparently she'd also said something to upset Luke too so Thalia would probably zap her if she was given the choice.

She definitely wasn't expecting one of Percy's new besties- and okay, okay no, she could admit that that wasn't fair. Of course Percy had made friends whilst
she had amnesia- it was Percy, it was hard not to like her. And it wasn't Percy's friends fault that Percy had broken their hearts. That she seemed like a whole different person now.

In any case, as Frank poked his head around the door he looked as if he had spent some time convincing himself of what he was doing.

"Frank?" Annabeth stood up, "What do you want, is everything okay?"

And Frank stepped into the room, shutting the door behind himself. "We need to talk. I did consider coming to you to ask about this-" Frank held up his Chinese handcuffs, "But I ran into Leo on the way here from the infirmary and he explained them to me."

"Okay-" Annabeth frowned, "Why did you come here if you know how to use them then?"

"We need to talk about Percy-"

"Oh come on." Rachel shook her head, "What could you possibly-"

"Stop with the dirty looks." Frank's voice was firm, more confident than it had been at first. "You're going to stop glaring at her whenever you look at her-"

"She breaks our hearts and then you get to show up here acting like we're in the wrong for-"

"You think it was easy for her?" Frank demanded, his expression incredulous.

"It didn't seem too hard-"

"Bullshit." Frank snapped the word, "Bullshit. That girl is so in love with you that she will tear herself to pieces to protect you both because she's convinced that you two being with her will end up hurting both of you-"

"Oh that is such crap." Annabeth shook her head, "Percy's stronger than-"

"Maybe she was stronger than that before she died!" Frank spat the words, "Before she gave up Elysium to give us a chance but right now she's broken."

"Oh come on- she-"

"He isn't going to stop and she knows it- she is terrified that Alabaster will come for you guys. She's terrified and hurting and she's dealing with a whole mess of shit that none of us can understand so you two have to cut her some slack!"

"She-" Annabeth shook her head, "she could talk to us-"

"Can she? She doesn't want to burden you guys." Frank shook his head, "she loves you both and she thinks you'll be better off without her-"

"How could we ever be better off without her you have to be kidding me-" Annabeth started to protest.

"She's been having suicidal thoughts!" Frank almost yelled the words, "That doesn't sound like someone who's thinking clearly to me. So stop acting like she's some horrible person and realise that she's fucking traumatised-"

"Suicidal-"

"When she still had no memories-" Frank shook his head, "There was a time she thought she wanted to die- which means that she's been having a lot of suicidal thoughts- and that was before she got her memories back. Before he showed up again and nearly kidnapped her baby sister just to force her to play his games. She is barely holding it together on the outside. I am genuinely worried that if too much happens she will do something stupid and get herself killed because she doesn't care about her own life."

"I-" Rachel faltered, "You- what do you want from us we can't just- she doesn't want us together she doesn't- even if you're right-"

"I just need you to try and stop acting like she's some horrible person because she left you because she isn't. She is struggling so much-"

"You can't-" Annabeth's expression was heart breaking- and Rachel was pretty sure her own expression was the same. Fuck but how were they supposed to react to this. "You can't tell us this and then- how are supposed-"

"If you guys love her then you will wait." Frank let out a breath, and his shoulders lowered slightly, "Wait until this is over and he's gone. And possibly when- once she's had time and processed everything- I know she still loves you both."

Rachel closed her eyes, swallowing hard. Then she opened them, turning her head so that she could look at Annabeth- who gave her a tiny nod and grabbed her hand. "We can hold it together until she decides she's ready."

"She was dead for months and we never stopped loving her. Even when- even when Rachel and I got rings- even when we decided that one day we'd get married we knew that we'd be rejoining her when we get to Elysium- we can be together again. I want us together again. If- if she's really struggling as much as you say- she- if she's scared of us getting hurt by him- she's an idiot but she doesn't- she doesn't want to let us close-"

"Look after her." Rachel's voice was soft, "Look after her for us. We'll keep our distance if that's what she needs." gods but this was painful- she'd almost preferred it when she'd felt angry at Percy for hurting both of them- especially since Rachel knew- she knew that it was going to make Annabeth's abandonment issues a thousand times worse. But now- now all she felt was worried, but it made sense, everything Frank said made sense- Percy always had been too hard on herself. And of course she was terrified of Alabaster coming for them. Gods they'd been idiots- they'd been so busy being hurt about it that they hadn't truly considered it- hadn't really thought about what she'd said. The fact that she'd been happy in Elysium made sense.

"Of course." Frank didn't even hesitate, "Just- don't keep giving her those looks- it hurts her a lot."

"Of course." Rachel nodded, swallowing hard, "It- it just hurt-"

"I bet it did. And-" Frank hesitated, "Don't tell her I did this. I don't think she'd be happy."

"Probably not." Annabeth laughed weakly, shaking her head, "She- gods I love her but she's ridiculous."

"Yeah." Frank nodded, "Just- give her time and don't- don't act like she's horrible."

"We won't." Rachel paused, "You- what- what happened that- how did you find out she'd had those thoughts- that she wanted-"

"Her half brother Phineas. She made a bet with him to get the info we needed, we had Gorgons blood-"

"What?" Annabeth's eyes widened, "How did you-"

"Her spoils of war." Frank gave a strained smile, "She killed them on the way into camp. Saved my life-"

"But-" Annabeth paused, "Which side was it from?"

"There were two vials. We had no way of knowing which was which. Percy's bet- you know who Phineas was?"

"Yes- I assume he was working for Gaea-"

"And blind still." Frank pulled a face, "Percy told him that they'd each drink one of the vials, one would die, one would be cured- him of his blindness and Percy- she'd get her memories back."

"I- but-" Rachel blinked, "No why would she ever take the risk-"

"She baited Gaea. Who tricked Phineas into drinking the poisonous side. I talked to her after and I asked if she cared so little about her life that she'd trust Gaea with it and- I knew then. And that was before she remembered everything- now- I mean- she broke her arm when she fell off the bench of the Poseidon's Joy 2 after a nightmare and she didn't even feel it because she was in shock."

"A nightmare-"

"Yeah, about the wedding-"

"What?" Annabeth straightened up, "What did you just say-"

"The wedding-"

"The-" Rachel felt as if she was going to be sick, "What do you mean the wedding? There was no wedding that was just- just some sick power play- the dress was-"

"I-" Frank paled, "No- you- I thought- I assumed you guys knew-"

"Oh gods-" Rachel felt sick, her mind snapping back to the conversation they'd had the night before Percy had broken up with them. "Oh gods-"

And Annabeth was crying, "We- Luke never told us we didn't- she-"

"She-" Frank held up his hands, a panicked look on his face, "I don't- if she didn't tell you-"

"Oh gods-" Annabeth was shaking her head, "Oh gods she- she actually-"

"She said she did it to save Luke and Ethan-"

"And- and I said-" Annabeth was shaking her head, "Oh gods I said- I didn't know-"

"I-" Frank had a panicked look on his face as he back towards the door, "I should go-" and then he was gone, and Rachel moved just in time to catch
Annabeth when her legs gave out and they both sobbed- they both sobbed for the girl they loved.

Then Annabeth suddenly lifted her head, anger in her eyes. "Why didn't Luke tell us?"