Of Spars and Vacant Cabins

Rated T

In which Percy Jackson doesn't receive the entirety of his memories back and when it's finally time for the Roman demigods to regard the Greeks with a peace treaty that will enable them to work against Gaea cohesively, Annabeth Chase finds herself developing a new relationship with Percy Jackson - one that glorifies brutality and roughness.

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Part Four:

"Of Spars"

As typical as you can get with acquiring a newly amnesiac ex-boyfriend, Annabeth was familiarized with the art of sparring with Percy under the confines of playfulness.

They knew each other's fighting styles so well, and, in a way that only felt conventional to them, would eventually have to reach a standstill after distinct displays of baseless dominance. Though, Annabeth was never one to appreciate the implications of what a standstill denoted. After a myriad of years spent competing for dominance in their relationship, whether they were in the platonic stages of attempting friendship or the delicate beginnings of an intimate relationship, Annabeth felt most at ease when she was the one in control. She often felt apprehensive when Percy managed to blindside her because she was never granted a moment to fully collect herself. Vulnerable moments, like the one she had just experienced with Percy only moments before, made her feel like she had to compensate when unveiling momentary actions of weakness. When Annabeth confronted Percy in the mess hall, she had felt unnaturally unlike herself and, now, she wanted to soothe the embarrassment she felt of betraying her decisiveness by winning this spar. Winning this spar would remind her of what it felt like to be durable and unrelenting, to be sans the girl who fleetingly subjected herself to such a moment of susceptibility.

There were moments when Percy got the better of Annabeth (typically because he would do goofy things to distract her like kiss her or say distracting things that definitely shouldn't be said around other campers) and there were moments when Annabeth got the better of Percy because, well, she's Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena. It is in her birthright to be an attentive, strategic warrior. So, when Percy suggested that they spar, Annabeth wasn't sure as to what she should expect. Of course, she was aware that even in his amnesic state, his muscle memory did not fail him on his quest and his fairly recent battle against the giant, Polybotes. Annabeth was more curious to know if that muscle memory would still be applicable when he sparred with her.

"You fight with a dagger?" Percy asked her, finishing adjusting his armor with slight interest adorning his features as he looked at Annabeth through reserved eyes.

Annabeth doubled knotted her shoelace, looking at him curiously. "Yeah. Why are you wearing armor?"

Annabeth didn't have the time nor the thoughts to question him about his invincibility during their standoff that had happened the night before since she was obviously rather distracted. In her time avoiding Percy, Annabeth missed out on a lot of information about him and his disappearance. Piper or Leo would poorly recite what they had heard, but Annabeth felt strangely comforted with not knowing what she did not want to hear. For one of the first times in her life, not knowing about the adventures of someone who was extremely important to her brought her more relief than it did satisfaction of being able to finally know. The unknown protected her more than it did frustrate her.

"To protect myself in case you're crazy kick ass or something," Percy responded in confusion, giving her a pointed look. "Which I wouldn't doubt."

"You lost the Curse of Achilles?" Annabeth asked in surprise, loosening the straps on her breastplate that seemed a little snug.

She should've known, she really wished that she had known. She hated being caught off guard like that. Once she got word that Percy didn't remember anyone or anything, Annabeth had stopped her excessive research regarding Roman culture, mythology, and architecture. None of that mattered to her anymore when she quite literally had lost a precious piece of her life. She hated that she allowed herself to be consumed by this incredibly stinging sorrow, instead of the very rage and desire to protect that was propelled by losing Percy.

"Oh," Percy said, understanding. "Yeah, I did. When I crossed the Little Tiber to get into Camp Jupiter, it rid me of the curse. Something about it being Greek, of course."

"Makes sense," Annabeth responded, nodding her head slowly and trying to ignore the annoyance she felt about the connotation behind the word Greek. "Well, that'll make it easier to kill you."

Even if this wasn't her Percy. Even if he had the audacity to only remember her face and nickname. Even if she allowed herself to succumb to the weakness Percy made her feel. Even if, as confusing at it felt, she didn't almost regret her not Percy kissing her. Even if all of these things weren't factors in their newly forming "friendship", Annabeth would never make things easy for Percy and she sure as hell wanted him to be aware of that.

This was her attempt of giving him the chance he deserved, it wasn't his fault a goddess with a terrible grudge and poorly executed plan meddled in their lives.

"All right, you ready?" Percy questioned, uncapping riptide and twirling it in a fashion that felt familiar to Annabeth. Then he paused, looking at Annabeth seriously. "Wait, what?"

"Always," Annabeth responded, feeling rather smug and satisfied with Percy's reaction.

"But you just-"

Annabeth's playful glare cut him off and Percy nodded at Annabeth as if to say, Let's see what you got then.

As they took their positions, Annabeth wasted no time lunging at Percy, swiping at him with her dagger, and expertly ducking under his sword to avoid his quick rebuttal. He did this weird stabbing motion that she wasn't familiar with and she quickly had to side-step to avoid being on the receiving end of the impact she would've felt if she didn't move as fast as she did. Percy's fighting style was familiar, but Annabeth could definitely see the Roman influence behind some of the new moves she had to get acquainted with fairly quick or risk injury due to Percy's ruthlessness. The first half of their spar involved Annabeth getting used to Percy's new fighting techniques and once she felt confident with observing the moves, she quickly moved to the offensive, anticipating moves she had now familiarized herself with. She tried to hard to put pressure on him with her own, very Greek, offensive techniques. She mainly had to resort to lithe and close-contact moves in order for her dagger to be within reach of him.

Finally, Percy seemed to be fed up with having to jump and twirl and spin every which way to avoid Annabeth's fast, unrelenting close-quarter jabs that he resorted to grabbing her wrist that held her dagger to prevent anymore advances. Annabeth, knowing Percy was physically stronger than her, rooted her feet in place to give her the momentum she needed to push the hand he was gripping downward, which allowed her to be closer and closer to an odd point of the side of his neck. Percy suddenly gave up pushing away Annabeth's hand, but while doing so, he forcefully pushed her away, and caused her to stumble. He quickly raised his sword to her neck while she was trying to ground herself from stumbling so suddenly.

"Yeah, so, you should probably give up now," Percy panted, firmly holding his sword uncomfortably close to Annabeth's neck and giving her a steely look.

Annabeth smirked at Percy, raising her hands up as if in seeming defeat. Though, when Percy nodded at her with this satisfied look on his face, and cautiously lowered his sword, he wasn't ready for when Annabeth quickly side-pivoted around him, kicking her leg out to sweep him off his feet, quite literally. She picked up her dagger in Percy's stupor, pointing it at his neck from afar while she firmly rested her foot atop Riptide.

"If there's one thing you need to know about me, Percy Jackson," Annabeth announced, victory glowing in her eyes. "It's that Athena always has a plan, a will, and a way."

Percy reclined back on his arms, peering up at Annabeth from his position on the floor. Annabeth was very pleased to find him studying her with narrowed eyes and a ghost of a smirk on his lips that expressed amusement.

"I want you to know that I won't let that happen again," Percy warned, slightly smiling at Annabeth in what appeared to be suppressed embarrassment but, nonetheless, he was impressed with her strength and her ability to catch him off guard.

Percy guessed trying not to kill each other was a pretty good ice breaker for him. By the way Annabeth rolled her eyes at him, he could tell that it was working for her, too. Only moments before were they suffocating with tension. He was fine pretending everything was fine between them if it was only for an entire spar session.

Annabeth scoffed, actually amused. "And I want you to know that it doesn't work like that when your mother is the goddess of war, Jackson. Try harder next time."

Rather than giving her that lopsided smirk she was accustomed, Annabeth was momentarily put off when Percy looked her dead in the eyes and nodded, his sea green eyes gleaming with something she was hurt she could no longer identify. Knowing Percy meant she knew what his expressions meant and the reality that they no longer truly knew each other was something she was having painful time acknowledging.

"Yeah, yeah," Percy muttered distractedly, lifting up his arm. "Aren't you gonna help me up?"

Annabeth peered down at him and sniffed in faux distaste, hoping to shift the new tension she felt was beginning forming with Percy. "Nah, don't you think I need to save my energy for when you figure out how you won't let that happen again, right? Good spar."

Annabeth walked away from Percy, trying her best to come off as a haughty but, obviously, in a joking a way. If they were going pursue a friendship, she didn't want it to always feel so tense and on edge whenever she was near him. She was hoping he was perceptive enough to understand that and not think she was being bitchy. She didn't have time to ponder what Percy thought of their interaction because, in an instant, Piper pulled Annabeth to the side. She watched Jason brace an arm out for a slightly disoriented Percy, who was now narrowing his eyes at her in a way that almost made her uncomfortable. Annabeth quickly turned away to look at Piper with wide eyes and they both chuckled to themselves quietly, one out of amusement and one out of unease. They began their short lived journey out of the arena to the strawberry fields.

"So," Piper prompted, teasingly bumping Annabeth with her shoulder. "It seemed like you guys were kind of flirting."

That comment seemed to sober up Annabeth's amusement. "What? Flirting? That wasn't flirting. I was just trying to tease him to make things less awkward. Plus, we've decided to start off as friends, so I guess maybe we're trying to figure out how to act around each other?"

Piper looked at Annabeth with a rather insinuating look, rolling her eyes at her friend's denial.

"So? Just because you're "friends" doesn't mean that wasn't flirting, Miss Chase. I saw you guys this morning and the conversation between you two seemed really intense," Piper said, seeming as though she was trying to egg Annabeth on.

"Oh," Annabeth mumbled, her embarrassment from before returning and she rubbed her arm uncomfortably to soothe the shame that came from sacrificing her hubris to make amends. "Um, well, you know how Percy was meant to keep me occupied as a distraction ploy during Capture the Flag last night?"

"Mhm." Pipper nodded.

"Well, his distraction was to spar with me but we ended up making out instead. Passionately," Annabeth admitted, looking at Piper in distress.

Piper gasped. "What?!" She stopped in her footsteps to dramatically cover her mouth. She could really be a daughter of Aphrodite even if she tried her best to conceal it.

Annabeth quickly looked around, grabbing Piper's hand away from her mouth. "Shh! Don't make a big deal. This is why I keep things to myself."

Piper chuckled at Annabeth's somber expression, as she watched her unconsciously begin to pout and stare at the strawberries in disdain. "Annabeth! You made out with your amnesic boyfriend, isn't that a good thing? He's still attracted to you!"

Annabeth shook her head, crossing her arms to give herself a hug that she desperately needed. "So? He regretted it almost instantly after we kissed. When we were kissing he remembered my nickname and I was hopeful, trying to make sure I heard him correctly. Well, he completely blew me off and told me to forget that it ever happened. You don't know how much that hurt me, Piper. When we were kissing, it almost felt like it was him. . .but he was a lot more firm," Annabeth noted quietly, absentmindedly toying with her camp necklace as she recalled last night's event. "It made me realize that this isn't my Percy, as much as I want him to be. I know he feels connected to me but I feel like that kiss ruined everything. He doesn't seem as earnest as he was to speak me all those days before, it's like I made him feel more guarded to be around me. I don't know if it's because he doesn't know how he should feel about it or if it's because I lied to him about us not being in a relationship. I don't know, clearly this is all my fault. I just know I can no longer kiss him without any repercussions. We have to at least be friends, for the sake of the quest," Annabeth repeated those words they had said to each other earlier in the morning, her voice quivering with the distaste she felt from saying it.

"Annabeth," Piper said softly, "Maybe the best thing to do is to continue to be honest with Percy. You can't change what already has happened. I mean, he probably feels really confused and doesn't know how to be around you since you acted like you didn't want to be around him. The fact that you avoided him for a week, weren't honest about your relationship, and all the kissing probably really messed with him. I mean, how would you feel if you were in his position? This is his supposed girlfriend, the only person he can vaguely remember and, I'm sorry, but you weren't exactly there for him."

Annabeth's heart pulsed with this striking pain that made her bite her lip to be able to withstand it.

Annabeth guiltily looked down, and clenched her jaw as Piper's brutally honest words registered. "I hate how right you are because I feel so pathetic for acting like a coward." Her lip quivered, annoyance settling in as she knew her emotions were beginning to get the better of her. "I should've been there for him the moment he arrived at Camp Half-Blood, but I ran away to protect myself when I wasn't even the one who needed to be protected. I already apologized to him but, now, I feel like I'm really starting to understand how fucked up I really was. Percy would never do that me if I was the one who lost my memory."

Piper rubbed Annabeth's back in soothing circles, staring at her with deep concern as she watched Annabeth cry in front of her for the first time. "You don't have to pretend to be strong all the time, Annabeth - we all know you're scary with and without tears. Running away is natural and what feels most comfortable, but I'm sure he really needs you, even if he doesn't exactly know that yet."

"Ugh," Annabeth groaned, rubbing at her newly red eyes. "I feel so weak crying all time, it's been a long time since I felt like I was strong but, Piper, really, thank you. We children of Athena are fairly knowledgable in most areas of life, but I know a lot of us avoid developing a strong emotional intelligence because we feel weak when we feel emotions that don't make us feel grounded. If you weren't a daughter of Aphrodite, and - no, don't deny it, I see her in you at times - I feel as though you would be a daughter of Athena. It's refreshing hearing someone else's perspective."

Piper beamed, her kaleidoscope eyes glowing with a mischief Annabeth was too familiar with. "Now, straighten those shoulders, lift that chin, wipe those eyes, and let's kick ass in archery, all right? Also, give me a hug a first," Piper demanded, feeling triumphant that her charmspeak worked on even the most strong-willed people she knew. Piper didn't like to use it on Annabeth because she always knew what she did afterwards but, right now, she felt like this one time would be an exception and she would take it easy on her.

Annabeth hugged Piper firmly, and then pulled back to give her a gracious smile. Once completing Piper's demands, she began her descent down the Strawberry fields to go the archery area, though, not before turning around and pinching Piper as hard as she could.

"Ow!" Piper yelped, a pout forming on her lips as she rubbed her arm. "Seriously?!"

Annabeth gave her a telling look, her lips slowly forming into a smirk. "Don't use charmspeak on me, McLean. You know this already."

Piper rolled her eyes, still rubbing her arm. "Yeah, yeah. Keep walking before I make you slap yourself."

They both shared playful smiles.

It was little moments like this that Annabeth appreciated the most in the midst of all the despair she was so used to sinking in.

Author's Notes: I'm going to start giving chapter shoutouts, to one or two people. Just because I appreciate feedback & criticism, but also love seeing that y'all are enjoying it. Sorry for the delay, this chapter has been ready I've just been unmotivated unfortunately, but a lot of the story is written out, so it will be finished - I'm committing to that. I hope you guys enjoyed, we haven't even reached the messy part of this story, so some chapters are really just transition/filler chapters.

CHAPTER SHOUTOUT: Nora. Thank you for your review, I knew my writing last chapter barely scratched the surface of my potential. I'm a psychology major and scientific writing is short & to the point, so I'm a bit rusty and had to adapt to get A's, you see. Haha. I really do like descriptive writing, so I'm going to try my best to execute that. But I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Hope you guys are staying safe! :)

-MotherofFandoms