A/N: OFFICIAL Final Update on Broken and Renewed. I think I've resolved the issue regarding Divergent Path not appearing correctly. Just felt the need to release a final update on this original story because it won't ever be edited again and in case any issues with the new story persisted. Thank you all for reading my story, whether it's the new or original or both. I hope you're all enjoying reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.
Chapter 3: Gone and Gone Again
Annabeth had let her guard down in that moment. Verbalizing her feelings about Percy, she had released her hope in him. And the resulting kiss was followed by every instinct in her body screaming both that it was wrong and that she was in danger. She pulled away, her head snapping towards the sea expecting to see a monster to justify the distress her body felt. She realized that feeling was warranted by who was standing a few yards behind her.
Percy stood facing the two, Annabeth's cap in one hand and a small green box in the other. He didn't need to speak; his eyes did enough to convey that his heart was shattered. They emanated unbridled pain and an intense feeling of betrayal as they welled with tears. Percy fought as hard as he could to hold them back but he had no chance against the cascade that overpowered him, blurring his vision. He couldn't have spoken if he wanted to. His throat was bone dry and had closed up completely while watching the person he loved most say she didn't love him anymore before kissing the one that had made the last year of his life hell. Annabeth stepped towards him and started,
"Percy… please.." but what could she say? She knew it was already too late. She was the one that had given up on him, if only for a second. But now, Annabeth became certain he hadn't done any of the things Cameron claimed; his overwhelming pain and confusion couldn't have any other explanation. In some way, she knew Percy was who he had always been. But that meant nothing now. She had already betrayed Percy, and he had every right to be angry. And he was angry.
Percy's eyes were already bloodshot from the tears that had poured out of them. They continued to trickle down, but his posture stiffened like a cold statue. He felt hollow as he continued to stare at Annabeth as his gaze became briefly devoid of emotion. Cameron snickered at the emotional mess in front of him as he reached out to put his arm around Annabeth. Percy's expression contorted into one of rage.
The winds sped up dramatically as the ocean began to churn violently behind the pair. Cameron thrust his arms out to try and slow the dark whirlpool that had appeared dangerously close to the shore. A thick tendril of water shot out of the ocean and struck his sternum. As he flew backwards, wind from the opposite direction clotheslined him flat onto his face. His cry was barely audible over the thrashing winds.
Percy hadn't moved a muscle but his glowing green eyes gave away that he was the source of the growing disaster. He finally stepped towards Annabeth who frantically looked at Cameron's crumpled form on the sand. The wind whipped her hair in every direction as she turned towards Percy.
"How much of it was real?" Percy had finally found his voice, but it came out as nothing more than a whisper. Even through the raging storm around them, Annabeth could hear him. She choked up that she had made him feel the need to ask that, and was desperate for him to forgive her.
"All of it. Percy, please. It was a moment of weakness. It was one mistake," she pleaded unthinkingly. Immediately, she realized this was the wrong answer and Percy snapped.
"One mistake! It was one mistake?! What about lying about where you've been for these last three weeks? Planning to move to a college across the country without even mentioning it to me? And all those days you were so distant, were you really tired from the day with your friends? Or were they spent sneaking out here with Cameron too? ONE MISTAKE?" Percy was roaring now, but was still almost drowned out by the storm that became deafening. He hadn't even thought to bring up those nights she had come back from Olympus until he just realized it had been eating at him.
Annabeth stared at him in shock. She quickly put it together from her hat now thrashing in the wind that he must have seen the acceptance letter in her cabin. She fell to her knees with her head in her hands as she cried at what he now thought of her. Cameron was struggling to his feet, choking out a laugh at what Percy had said.
"I told you I'd take it all from you, Jackson! And you couldn't even figure out how I did it," he shouted over the torrential downpour. Percy didn't hear the last part as he charged towards Cameron. Percy lowered his shoulder and charged into Cameron's chin with a satisfying crack, sending him back into the sand with blood gushing from his lip. He uncapped Riptide and stood over Cameron, a murderous look on his face.
From right next to them, Annabeth looked up at the scene in horror. She reached out and touched Percy's sword arm. He swung his head to look at her and a new feeling of regret built up in his stomach. From her position on the ground, Annabeth looked terrified of Percy and what he was doing. He grimaced as he stepped back off of Cameron's unconscious body, and the storm immediately began to dissipate. He returned his sword into pen form and slipped it back into his pocket.
As vindictive as he had felt in that moment, towards the both of them, he couldn't bear to be the reason she felt that fear. The winds eased and the sea returned to natural tides lapping at the shore. Percy turned and began to walk away from the duo, before he realized he had a final loose end. In his left hand, he was still clutching the velvet box.
"I guess I don't need this anymore," he whispered while looking at it spitefully. Percy was just talking out loud to himself, but Annabeth heard him. She watched him throw the box down at his side and continue his walk back to camp, never looking back at her. He must have thrown it harder than he realized because the lid cracked off, revealing the contents to Annabeth.
The storm had left Annabeth completely unharmed, but the pain on her face did nothing to reflect that. She stared at the most beautiful ring she had ever seen as her eyes again welled with tears. In a voice too small for anyone else to hear, she whispered 'I do.' She didn't know why she said it, but she did. She crawled over to the ring and held it in her hands as she cried at what was no longer hers.
(Line Break)
Back at his cabin, Percy was furiously stuffing all of his essential belongings into a backpack. As much as he had loved this place for so long, Camp Half Blood wasn't his home anymore and there was nobody left for him here besides Chiron. He couldn't leave his longtime mentor with no explanation, so he jotted down a quick note for the old centaur. While Percy's eyes stung with occasional tears, he finished writing and folded the note into his pocket.
Closing his cabin door for what was hopefully the last time, he took a deep breath and whistled. Mrs O'Leary bounded out of a nearby shadow. Percy smiled at the sight of his loving hellhound as she barreled into him and licked him profusely. Getting up, he winced slightly because, when greeting her friends, she forgets she's the size of a garbage truck.
Percy vaulted onto her back and directed her to the front porch of the Big House. He left the note at the foot of the door and whispered in Mrs O'Leary's ear where he needed her to go. She barked excitedly, and Percy was shocked that her deafening woof didn't wake the entirety of Long Island. She dissolved into the nearest shadow and Percy braced his stomach for the 3,000 mile jump.
A moment later, they reappeared along the banks of the Little Tiber in Berkeley Hills, California. Percy slid off the back of his hellhound, who promptly fell over while panting heavily. Even for her, shadow traveling cross-country took a significant amount of energy. Percy rubbed her belly as he looked on at the Roman camp across the bridge in front of him.
He smiled fondly at his memories here: the war game where Frank met his father for the first time, Percy returning from his quest to Alaska and being raised on a shield as Praetor, and the day the Argo showed up where he was reunited with Annabeth. His face morphed into a scowl as he relived the events of the past few hours. At the same time, a flare shot up from the newly built watchtower overlooking the river.
Adjacent to the watchtower, the barracks roared to life and a squadron of a dozen legionnaires charged towards the river led by… the Minotaur? Squashing his confusion, Percy drew Riptide. The Minotaur tore ahead of the rest, brandishing a glowing silver-tipped spear instead of his usual double-edged battle axe, and a massive bow was slung over his body. Percy's eyes widened as he remembered the ceremony on Olympus and realized what was going on.
He waved his hands over his head but the group didn't slow its charge. Percy needed to get them to stand down so he thrusted out his arms, calling to the water in front of him. With a soft tug in his gut, he willed the river to explode. Hundreds of gallons of water rushed towards the advancing unit at immensely high pressure, dousing them thoroughly and knocking all of them off their feet.
"Frank! It's Percy!" he shouted, nearly certain that Frank had somehow unlocked this monstrous mutation. The Minotaur looked at him, dazed, before seeming to process the information. It snorted, draining the remaining water from its sinuses, and then transformed into the burly Praetor of New Rome. Percy smiled at the face of his friend he hadn't seen in too long.
Frank grinned as they met at the top of the bridge over the river, sharing a quick hug.
"It's been way too long man," Frank said, happy to see his friend after over a year apart.
"It for sure has. What's the Praetor of the legion doing keeping a lookout in the middle of the night?" Percy asked. Frank laughed, confused.
"Percy, it's like 9 P.M. We were wrapping up our evening practice when I felt a powerful presence at the river,"
"Oh, right. 3 hour time difference. I just shadow traveled here with Mrs O'Leary from Camp Half Blood so I could tell you guys something," Percy said emotionlessly.
Frank perked up, incredibly excited. Leo had arrived in New Rome earlier today because he couldn't keep a secret about the package he had delivered to Percy's door that afternoon. Piper had actually screamed when she heard what it was, Hazel had fanned her face to calm her excitement, and Jason had literally fist pumped the air which led to jeering laughs from everyone else.
"So? What is it?" Frank asked eagerly, wanting to be the first to hear it. Percy's eyes darkened as he looked at his friend.
"Can you get everyone together so I don't have to tell the story more than once?" he asked with poorly masked pain in his voice. Frank became extremely worried but he nodded silently as he turned to get their friends.
"Oh, and can we meet out here? By the river," Percy added. He couldn't bear to go into New Rome just yet and remember all of the times he wished he and Annabeth could move there together.
"Sure, man. I'll be right back," Frank said while trekking back to the Principalis and then New Rome to gather the group.
Percy waited on the bridge for about 10 minutes until he saw his friends making their way down towards him. Momentarily surprised to see Leo with them, Percy realized he must've let them in on the proposal. He felt a pang in his chest as they all had an amount of excitement on their faces. Still, he really was glad to see all of them again.
They met at the bottom of the bridge leading into the camp with a round of either hugs or fist bumps at their reunion. Frank had told them all that Percy wanted to talk to them here so they all took a seat on the grassy banks of the river, careful to avoid the areas Percy had drenched. Out of the group, Piper shook with the most excitement. As much as she avoided her mother's stereotypes, she couldn't not love hearing about her friends' relationships.
"Soooo, tell us the good news Percy!" Piper said, no longer holding back her enthusiasm. Percy's face fell as he knew this would hurt them too. But he decided to rip the band-aid off.
"We broke up," he said flatly. Nobody said a word. Leo's jaw dropped, Hazel covered her mouth, Frank and Jason's eyes widened, and Piper looked like she had been shot. It stayed that way for a minute longer until Leo broke the silence with a chuckle.
"Come on, man. You almost got me. Good one Per-" One look at the pain in Percy's eyes switched Leo's tone immediately. "Oh my gods, dude. Can you tell us what happened?" he asked, no remnant of his normally joking attitude.
Percy took a deep breath. He was not looking forward to rehashing the most awful year of his life up until the worst moment of it that happened only an hour ago. But he knew he couldn't tell his friends what he wanted to do unless they had all of the context. Percy began recounting the past year from the morning they left after Cameron's introduction.
He told them about his final interaction with Poseidon, Cameron's mission to convince the campers that Percy was a fraud, all of his closest friends eventually hating and leaving him, and finally Annabeth's betrayal. As the story went on, the river stirred more and more violently before promptly stopping when Percy broke down at the end. He rubbed the tears from his eyes as he looked back up at his friends.
Jason's face was red with anger while flames sparked from Leo's hands. The rest of the group shared similar reactions at how the Greek camp had treated the most selfless hero to ever come out of it. But the worst part was what one of their own quest members had done. Piper especially couldn't believe that the most perfect couple she had ever seen would end up like this.
"So, with all of that, I couldn't stay at that camp anymore. Would it be fine if I moved to Camp Jupiter?" he asked.
"Oh, Percy. Of course it would. Frank will set you up with a house and everything in New Rome when you're ready," Hazel said through a few sympathetic tears at what her friend had gone through. Frank nodded in agreement. Percy was able to pull himself together, grateful to still have his friends at this camp.
"Thanks, guys. But it won't be for a few days. I just needed to see you all, but I want to go spend some time with my mom first. I need to let her know what happened and not have her worried when I suddenly disappear to the other side of the country," Percy said. Some of the group winced at the malice in his voice at the end, realizing he was referring to Annabeth's college acceptance that he had mentioned.
They all understood and sadly said their goodbyes, deeply upset about what their friend had to go through. Hazel was glad that Percy felt he could come to them even with something this serious. If he were more like Nico, he may have just disappeared completely for some time and left them all worried.
Percy looked back at Mrs O'Leary to see that she was passed out on the grass, her tongue lolling out of her mouth. He rolled his eyes but smiled at the giant monster contentedly sleeping on her side. He decided not to wake her and figure out some other way to start heading back. The group was starting to leave but Leo looked back and saw the little predicament Percy was in.
"Man, if only you knew a cool, sexy, ladies' man with powers that could teleport you across the country," Leo said, slapping Percy's back. Percy's eyes widened before he chuckled. If there was one word to describe Leo, it was dependable. Percy thanked him and told him that his mom lived in Montauk. She had bought the cabin they went to every summer and renovated it into a beach house with Paul.
Leo grabbed his shoulder and the duo disappeared in a column of fire. They reappeared in Montauk, standing on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic. A few hundred feet behind them sat Sally's newly renovated home. It was two stories in a contemporary coastal style with modern flat roofs; very expensive-looking. And of course, it was painted blue.
"Damn Perce! Your mom's been living it up after she dropped her last book, this is niceee," he praised. Percy hadn't been here since it had been renovated so it was his first time seeing it too. After he got done admiring the place, he turned to Leo.
"Thanks for everything, man. Can you let everyone know that I'll be back in five days?" Percy asked. Leo nodded before giving Percy what he'd call a totally masculine man hug and disappearing in a ball of fire.
Alone, Percy sighed before he let his shoulders slump forward and tears again stung at his eyes. Everything that had happened was still so fresh in his mind, but he felt that he had to hold a strong front with his friends. He was so exhausted from it all, and just wanted to lay on the couch in front of the fireplace with his mom like they used to. With those fond memories in mind, he held a small smile as he trudged tiredly towards the front door.
(Line Break)
Annabeth had barely moved from her position on the beach when Cameron finally came to. He groaned meekly as he sat up, his hands cupping his chin to try and dull the pain. Her throat was dry and she silently shook as if she were still crying but there were no tears left to come out. Annabeth turned to Cameron and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, needing to know the truth.
"Percy didn't say those things about anyone, did he? How did you know about them? Are you a spy? A servant of Gaea? Kronos? Tartarus?" She flung random accusations, desperate in her attempt to justify how she had fallen for his lies. She realized she was shaking him violently from his whimpers while he clutched his chin and his chest. Annabeth let go as he began to speak.
"No, what the hell are you talking about", he groaned but spoke carefully, "He did tell me about his stupid exaggerated adventures. I just added the hateful things he said about his friends to get them to see him the way they should," Cameron said, lying. He fought through the physical pain he was in, remaining stable enough to not reveal the whole truth. And with the emotional turmoil Annabeth was in, Cameron was sure that answer would be good enough for her. He was right.
Annabeth made an almost choking sound as she felt another sharp pain in her heart. Her hopeful hunch was right; none of those evil thoughts were Percy's. She had lost faith in the person she loved more than anybody else over statements that he would never even think of. And there was nothing Annabeth could do to mend it; she knew she had had so many chances to confront him but her hubris had convinced her she could figure it out herself.
Annabeth still had to try, but she knew Percy wouldn't want to see her tonight. She shuddered as she got to her feet, exhausted from crying and the overwhelming emotion she felt, and made her way to her cabin. She would see him at breakfast tomorrow and do everything she could to get him to forgive her.
The next morning, Chiron found the note Percy left for him.
Dear Chiron,
I'm leaving camp for good. I'm sure you know about everything with Cameron and my friends and you'll hear about Annabeth soon, too. I hope you know I don't blame you. I know that as the camp director, you're not able to get involved between campers' problems that aren't life threatening. Anyways, thank you for everything, and don't worry about me. I'm going to Camp Jupiter.
- Percy
Chiron felt a deep sadness at the loss of his favorite student. He had watched Percy's life at camp fall apart and was completely powerless to stop it. Chiron knew Cameron was behind it somehow; he had been keeping an eye on the boy from the day he had strangely arrived with the sea god. He shook his head and sighed. Although they hadn't treated him like a friend, he felt the campers should know that Percy was gone.
During breakfast, Chiron stood at the front of the pavilion and demanded the campers' attention. He announced that Percy had permanently left camp. Many of the campers looked at each other in shock that such a powerful demigod would up and leave camp with no warning. Cameron stood from "his" table of his newbie goons. The bottom half of his face was swollen and he seemed to wince slightly as he breathed.
"Good riddance to that loser. Nobody wanted a lying fraud here anyways!" he scoffed. Jeers went up from his section of the pavilion as his band of newer campers scrambled for the lesser son of Poseidon's approval. Everyone else watched them bewildered, having witnessed Percy's strength in some way or another, not understanding how the insult made any sense.
The table of head counselors was completely silent. Annabeth turned deathly white; her chance was gone. She had already told the rest of the table about what Cameron admitted the night before along with everything leading up to that. They sat around the table with various levels of shock on their faces, processing what they had been complicit in doing to their friend and that he was no longer going to be at camp.
Chiron stared at Cameron with intense hate in his eyes. The campers around the boy shrunk from his glare as Chiron's hand unconsciously gripped his bow, anger clouding the normally calm centaur's thoughts. Before he could do anything rash, an equally rageful daughter of Ares bounded over several tables and punched Cameron square in the nose, breaking it. Clarisse stepped back while swearing at him, her face red in anger and in shame for believing Percy would say that about their friend.
Cameron collapsed to the ground, both hands clasped over his nose that was bent in an unnatural direction. Chiron snapped out of it and released the bow he didn't realize he was holding. Two of Cameron's cronies, sons of Apollo, began to heal his nose as Chiron cut breakfast short, dismissing everyone to their daily tasks.
Everyone shuffled out of the pavilion, whispering to each other about their normally stoic instructor's reaction, Clarisse attacking Cameron, and theorizing about where Percy had gone. Only the head counselors' table remained. They went up to Chiron, begging for him to let them go find Percy or if he had told Chiron where he was going. Chiron simply shook his head.
"No, nobody will go search for him. I do not know where Perseus is. But even if I did, I would not tell you; I believe you all know that part of this was brought on by yourselves," he said gravely before returning to the Big House. Chiron was agitated with the way Percy had been treated by his friends at camp, and was grateful that he had people to turn to in the Romans. He flicked a drachma into some mist, wanting to thank them for being there for Percy.
"Lady Iris, please show me Praetor Frank Zhang at Camp Jupiter," Chiron had been around long enough to develop a friendship with the goddess, no longer needing to say the traditional phrase to get her attention. But this time, nothing happened. He raised his eyebrow before throwing two more drachmas into the misty rainbow.
"Iris, this is important. Show me Frank Zhang," he said, a little agitated. Again, nothing. The drachmas were disappearing so Chiron knew she was getting them. He was about to speak again when an exasperated huff came from the mist, and the goddess of the rainbow appeared.
"It's not working! I can't relay messages to people purposely avoiding them! What did you do Chiron?" she said, obviously frustrated. Chiron's eyes widened before they became deeply saddened. He realized the Romans must be reacting to what Percy's friends had done. He simply swiped through the mist, severing the connection.
Meanwhile at Camp Jupiter
"They drove him away from their damned camp! Percy fought and won two wars and led a dozen quests for them and they still abandoned him in favor of a lying new recruit! They are not worthy of Rome as an ally!" Frank shouted to the mass of soldiers gathered in front of him. The 12th Legion was in an uproar. They all were either there when they had raised Percy on a shield as Praetor or had heard about his exploits during his time at Camp Jupiter.
They all respected him and were outraged at how their counterpart camp had treated him. Using his power as Praetor, Frank created a new law cutting all ties with the Greek camp. He had the demigod children of Trivia use the Mist to block all means of communication to and from Camp Half-Blood, including Iris Messaging. The Romans were happy to welcome Percy into their ranks, who they still considered an honorary Praetor, but did not plan to extend that welcome to any other Greeks again.
5 days went as quickly as they came with no word from Percy. It was Day 6 and Jason sat in his Roman War Tactics Lecture, paying no attention to the Testudo diagram in front of him, while he tapped his leg at a million miles an hour. There were a lot of words to describe Percy, but tardy wasn't one of them, especially when it came to promises made to his friends.
Piper had already chided him earlier that morning, telling him that it made complete sense for Percy to want to spend a little longer than he expected with his mother. Jason knew she was right but he couldn't shake the sinking feeling in his stomach. He decided not to worry any of his friends at camp and would call Nico later in the day, who still hadn't been filled in on the entire situation.
Jason had no explanation as to how, but Nico somehow could get perfect cell service in the Underworld. That evening, the son of Hades appeared out of a shadow at the camp border after a brief phone conversation with Jason. He told Nico everything about what had happened to Percy at the same spot on the border that Percy had described it all to them. Nico was shaking in anger and eager to visit Percy if only to check on him.
The two clasped forearms and began to dissolve into the nearest shadow. Jason braced himself to not throw up but Nico just smirked; he had mastered shadow traveling to guarantee no queasiness for all parties as long as the jump wasn't halfway around the world. A split second after being fully enveloped, they appeared on what used to be an intact cliff overlooking a beautiful calm sea.
The duo immediately dropped to a knee as hurricane winds berated them. The sea roared at their backs, 30 foot waves off the coast threatening to breach their vantage point on the cliff. The ground beneath them shook and shuddered as if it were actively falling apart. Massive cracks stretched across the cliff face below them as well as all around them, stretching almost to the house ahead. The two demigods nodded to each other as they braved the torrential rain and the rest of the natural calamities while they forced their feet towards the building.
They got within a dozen yards of the house and the weather conditions around them eased. The monstrous disaster continued to rage behind them but it seemed to deliberately be avoiding damaging the house. Jason realized his gut must have been right; there was only one non-Olympian that could do this, and even he would have to feel impossibly emotional for it to reach this level.
Reaching the front of the house, the two stood in front of the door and caught their breath after fighting through the storm. Nico's face fell a dozen shades paler than usual when his hand touched the doorknob.
"Thanatos has been here," Nico said in a small voice before the duo inched through the front door in fear of what they'd find.
Past the hallway, the living room was in shambles: overturned bookshelves, a shattered TV, splintered coffee tables littering the floor. Monster dust was sprinkled across the debris. Jason and Nico did what they could to avoid stepping on glass as they quickly moved towards the kitchen doorway. Stepping through it, their breaths hitched in unison.
Blood was splattered along the stove and across the granite kitchen island. More golden dust was strewn across the floor. As the two crept around to the far side of the central island, Jason covered his mouth and put his other hand on Nico's shoulder. On the floor were two bodies: Sally Jackson and Paul Blofis.
Nico was no stranger to death but he felt his heart clench at the scene before him. Jason shared the pained look on his face as they looked on at the gruesome aftermath of the unknown event.
"Oh my gods. We have to find Percy, he needs us all right now way more than before," Jason said, sounding panicked as he worried about where his friend was.
Nico just shook his head as he knelt between the bodies. He put a hand on each of their temples and whispered a prayer. The bodies glowed faintly before sinking softly into the ground to be buried.
"They've been dead for over a day. Percy's long gone and, for whatever reason, didn't even have the chance to bury the bodies. I have a feeling we won't see him for a while," Nico said solemnly to an anguished Jason who only nodded.
"I'm going to go talk to Ms. Jackson in the Underworld. The gods should know about this, so can you ask your dad to call a meeting on Olympus? I'll meet you there to fill in with what I learn," he said. Before Jason could object, Nico dissolved into a shadow.
Alone now, Jason wrote a short note on a napkin and left it on the kitchen counter in the hopes that Percy would come back and find it. He looked around the house one last time before heading outside. He didn't do this often, but he prayed to all the gods for Percy's safety. Sighing, he hoped his father was in a generous mood as Jason took flight towards New York City.
On Olympus
Jason quietly entered the vast throne room of Olympus. It didn't matter how many times he stepped into it, Jason couldn't help but feel like an ant. Strangely, he found Zeus, Hestia, and Demeter engaged in a deathly tense game of poker at a table in the center of the room. Normally, he would never interrupt but this was for Percy.
"Um, hey dad…" Jason started. Nice job man, very authoritative, he annoyedly thought to himself. Zeus simply grunted in response, his attention almost exclusively on the game. He was ready to go all in and stick it to the goddesses that had been destroying him for the last two hours. Before he could, Jason steeled his nerves.
"Dad, I need you to call a meeting. Percy's gone."
Zeus looked up in momentary shock before a grim expression overtook his face. The trio of deities exchanged glances before folding their cards simultaneously and flashing back to their thrones. Zeus shot his bolt into the sky, and the remaining gods teleported into their seats.
All heads turned to the king of the gods who then gestured towards Jason.
"It appears that we must one again discuss Percy Jackson," Zeus thundered.