A not as fluffy chapter- but still somewhat optimistic. Annabeth is still very traumatised by what happened and currently can't face the idea of having to go home and tell everyone- there's some major wounded pride working there, and genuine fear of Luke too. It may be slightly selfish but they are literal children doing their best.
Replies:
Undeath9087: Heh, I'm going to enjoy the wait and more ridiculously cute but infuriating scenes where they could but don't.
Rage2091: Just wait, they'll get even worse.
Thickneck: Piper when she truly realises that she no longer has to be the voice of reason, "Y'know Percy... about that heist..." And Annabeth's just there like 'I should be stopping this, but they look so cute when they're excited, and Percy isn't wrong.
Fugy: Desjardins, twitching and trying not to smile: Percy. I have one question. Why?
Percy: Because I'm chaos of course!.
Seriously though, I love Desjardins.
Guest: Not yet lol.
Guest: I mean, there's perks to both sides, as for people like Tyson and Desjardins and stuff- I have my plans for that, though we won't see Tyson yet since Poseidon couldn't send him to Percy.
Guest: Fluffy floof is the best. And then there's angst which is also fun. Heheheheh.
Guest: Percy is gonna slip sometimes depending on situation, but yeah she was talking about Poseidon.
Guest: Heh, that would be funny, but I feel the need to point out that she won't be gazing into Thalia's eyes.
Brooklyn 99 fan(rather than addressing individual comments): Hah, thanks for making me laugh.
MKDemiGodzilla-Warrior: No you won't see that I'm afraid, but in the future you will get to see Zeus finding out Hades knew all along, which is gonna be fun.
Guest: I see your point, I suppose the eyes are a very prominent feature.

The rest of the holiday passed far too quickly in Percy's opinion.

They took a ferry to Delos the day after their break day, just the three girls. They'd taken food with them and they hadn't rejoined the others until later in the evening for a meal.

And they'd gone to museums, had more beach days- and before they knew it the trip was drawing to a close.

And the last days had been spent exploring Mykonos, visiting Mrs Katsaros' bakery every morning, and of course they spent time on the beach every day.

Thankfully there was no sign of the tourists that Percy and Piper had chased off on the first day, so they were able to enjoy themselves.

They'd even been able to coax Annabeth into coming underwater with them- and the other girl had gasped and seemed appropriately in awe of the beauty of the sea bed for Percy.

But all too soon the last days of their holiday arrived- and the time came to pack their bags- the flight home was booked for early morning so they'd agreed to make sure they were all packed up the night before. Percy was the first to finish packing- but then out of the three of them she was undoubtedly the most experience with packing bags given her childhood, how often they'd moved from place to place for her father's work.

And, given the fact that Annabeth was still adjusting to only having one good hand Percy decided to help her with her packing, carefully folding up the other girls clothes and placing them in the trunk, which earned her a wry smile from Annabeth.

"What?" Percy raised an eyebrow, "why are you looking at me like that."

"I just- it's weird how good you are at getting everything so organized for someone who's so-"

"Unhinged?"

"Hey!" Percy mock glared at Piper, who shot her a smug little smirk.

"That's not the word I'd have used." Annabeth laughed, shaking her head slightly. "But you know what I mean. Right?"

"Yeah." Percy nodded, "I get what you were trying to say." she tucked a loose curl behind her ear. "and you're not wrong. When I was little I hated packing but I mean- like I told you. I travelled around a lot as a kid. When you live like that you get used to packing everything you own into a small bag."

"See it sounds sad when you put it like that. You got to travel the world but-"

"Oh it was awesome." Percy said quickly, "I loved it. But- it was nice to put down roots-"

"And to meet me." Piper chirped, "Right Percy?"

"Of course." Percy grinned, "How could I ever live without you."

"You'd perish."

"But yeah. I'm good at packing. And it's nice that I actually have a home to go to these days. Y'know?"

"I-." Annabeth hesitated before she sat down, reaching up the play with the bead necklace around her neck. "I'm not so sure I do any more." and oh. Oh. Percy glanced at Piper- who was straightening up. After all, they'd known this conversation had to come eventually.

"You haven't asked about going home." Piper's voice was soft, "Back to your dad or to the camp for Demigods."

"I-" Annabeth swallowed hard, "I haven't been home to my dad in a long time. He's not my home any more." she paused, "I ran away at seven. It's a long story but- but I wasn't happy. And he- my step mom hated me and they had kids and- they didn't want me. I knew they didn't so- it was just easier to give them what they wanted. A life without me in it so when I was seven I just- I left."

And that made Percy's heart sink.

Because gods but seven was so young. Annabeth had ran away at a time when Percy was playing in pyramids and exploring ruins with her family. The unfairness there was painfully obvious- and Piper was moving to sit down next to Annabeth almost instantly, wrapping an arm around the daughter of Athena's shoulder.

"You must be so strong." Percy's voice was almost awed, "You know that right-"

"I- I was lucky." Annabeth ducked her head. "I met two older kids. A daughter of Zeus and a son of Hermes. They helped me. Took me in." her voice cracked, "I was so scared and they looked after me. They- they were more family to me than my dad ever was. We travelled together for a while before we headed to camp." she swallowed hard, "A lot of monsters were chasing us. You're lucky Percy. Big Three kids are usually like a beacon for monsters but your amulets keep them away. Thalia. She wasn't lucky and- and Hades was angry about her." Annabeth hesitated, "There- there was this oath, the three brothers made. Not to have any more kids because of World War II. It's a long story but-"

"But Hades was angry at Zeus for breaking it." Percy winced. She was going to have a word with her uncle about that if she could get away with it. And she hadn't missed the fact that from the sounds of it she was a result of breaking that oath. "So he sent monsters after her."

"Yes." Annabeth swallowed hard, "A satyr helped us, but- but by the time we reached the camp- Thalia, she held them off. She saved my life and- and she was, they killed-" she shook her head, closing her eyes tightly, "Zeus turned her into a tree. To honor her sacrifice."

"Oh gods-" Piper squeezed Annabeth's shoulder, "That must have been horrible Annabeth-"

"The son of Hermes was Luke." Percy's voice was quiet. "Wasn't it?"

"Yes-" Annabeth's voice cracked and she let out a broken noise as she opened her eyes, "He promised. He promised we'd be family forever he promised he'd look after me-" and she shattered in Piper's arms, sobbing helplessly as she clung to the daughter of Aphrodite, who soothed her, rubbing her back gently and murmuring nonsense words under her breath as Percy closed her eyes tightly.

She could feel anger, feel it thrumming through her veins, hot and powerful. It made her want to kill the bastard who'd hurt Annabeth like this. She hadn't deserved that.

She closed her eyes, counting backwards from ten- sure it was a great technique to help her calm herself after nightmares but it was also very good to help her calm down when she felt angry.

And once she felt like she had some control over herself Percy spoke again. "What about your camp-"

"I can't-" Annabeth lifted her head quickly, "I- I broke so many rules to follow L- to follow him." she swallowed hard. "And I didn't even- what good did it do? I- I'm broken-"

"Don't you dare-" Percy almost snarled the words "You are not broken Annabeth. Your hand isn't great but you are still amazing- I heard the way you talked to Carter, you're so smart. And you can learn to use your left hand for most things. If you don't want to go back there that's fine. We're not gonna make you or anything. But don't- don't do it because you're ashamed."

"She's right. It's shocking because this is also the girl who once suggested mixing red bull with coffee to see what it would do to her, but sometimes she's actually really smart about this sort of thing-"

"I will throw pillow at you Piper McLean."

"Oooh, terrifying." Piper snickered and Annabeth let out a damp laugh, shaking her head.

"Thank you." her voice was strained, "I- I can't stand the thought of going back. I know- they'd all be nice about it but- but everyone would look at me differently. They'd judge me. And- and I can't- everything there will remind me of Luke. Five years. It's a lot of time to spend there with him always-" she shook her head.

"Well then." Percy gave Annabeth a gentle smile, "Do you want to let them kn-"

"No. I- I know I should but- Chiron would want to bring me home. Especially if they knew about Luke-and- and I don't want him to know I survived. I don't-"

"You scared he might come back?" Percy frowned, "You know if he does I'll punch him in the face for you right."

"And I'll order him to pee his pants-"

"You two are amazing." some of the tension in Annabeth's shoulders was easing. "I know you'd defend me if he did- I just-"

"You can't face him yet." Piper nodded, "That's understandable."

"Well then. We won't be contacting anyone." Percy rubbed her hands together, "We'll talk to mom when she gets home. She'll be able to pull some strings, get you some faked paperwork. You can stay in Brooklyn House as long as you want."

"Really? I know Sally said that but-"

"Annabeth we have at least twenty people at Brooklyn House at any one time. Do you really think your presence is going to tip things over the edge or something. And mom's already talked to uncle Amos and Carter about the chance that you might want to stay. Both have agreed that it'd be fine- it's not like it's that different from Piper staying with us. Neither of you are magicians."

"Right." Annabeth swallowed hard, "Do- do the others at Brooklyn House-"

"Know that we're demigods?" Percy shifted, "It's... complicated. I mean, everyone who lives there sort of knows that Piper's something else, and they know that she and I are kinda, connected. Some of them have figured it out. But no one cares about it. As long as you know stuff and they don't have to find they don't really care. Hell some of them like showing off their magic- Shelby loves it."

"Shelby-" Annabeth blinked, "Wasn't that the girl who jumped from-"

"Yes." Percy nodded, "And it was more that she fell and knew that I'd catch her."

"Her faith in you was kind of adorable."

"Just wait until you get to the scenes in the third book." Piper stage whispered, "So freaking cute."

"Hush." Percy shot Piper a look, "We're not talking about me."

"If- if I stay with you-" Annabeth hesitated, "I've heard you guys talking about your school-"

"If you want to go you can." Percy said quickly.

That was easy enough to guess after all. Annabeth had probably been out of school around as long as Percy had if not longer- after all Percy and Carter had had a brief year of schooling in between the years of being home-schooled before Percy started at Brooklyn Academy of the Gifted.

She imagined that Annabeth had to have been out for school for five, maybe six years. For someone like Annabeth- a daughter of Athena to whom knowledge was important? Yeah Percy could see that being something she'd want to change.

"I can?" Annabeth almost seemed to light up, a hopeful gleam in her eyes, "Really?"

"Of course." Piper laughed, "And you won't be alone there. You'll be stuck with us and Felix. And that's just in our year."

"Yep, pretty much everyone at Brooklyn House who's old enough attends BAG. Carter won't be there this year, and neither will Zia- the traitors have grown up and finished school." Percy pouted. "And Sadie's not got long left. Honestly how dare they-"

"Yes-" Piper rolled her eyes fondly, "How dare they grow up and go to college."

"Hush." Percy poked Piper's shoulder, "Anyway. When we get home tomorrow we can talk to mom." Percy started packing Annabeth's bag again, "And she'll deal with the school, get any stuff you need to enroll- also, she can talk to them about your hand. They should allow a laptop so that you don't have to worry about writing until you've learned how to do it left handed."

"That- that would be amazing." Annabeth smiled faintly, ducking her head. "And it'd be nice to be able to get back to semi-normality." she paused, "I know I'm still getting tired more easily than I should but- can we maybe start training too? I have my dagger still. I'll need to get used to using my left hand."

"I could use a sparring partner." Piper spoke up, "I'm not the best but Percy's been teaching me."

"I'd like that." Annabeth let out a slow breath. "I want- I don't want to get stuck in the past. I want to move forward."