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.

-·-

Part Five:

"Greeks and Freaks"

Percy had unintentionally become familiar with the fatigue that came with being elusive. Without truly recognizing it, he felt exhausted from constantly attempting to recall memories or even faces from his past. Being at Camp Half-Blood left him with this irrepressible sense of déjà-vu that always made him feel unhinged and nauseated. He wanted to recognize people. He wanted to remember the inside jokes that Grover would unthinkingly mention. He wanted to remember all these stories he heard about himself that had almost seemed unreal. He desperately wanted to remember what it felt like to be loved and cherished by the people that were close to him, especially since he spent so many days feeling empty and alone. He craved to be a part of the life he once lived before his memories were stolen.

Upon reaching the Greek camp, a crowd of foreign demigods surrounded Percy with this uncontainable form of enthusiasm that made him feel helpless because he couldn't stand the disappointment that came when they realized he didn't recognize them. His feelings of helplessness became less heavy when he noticed his former friends and fellow campers reacted to him with patience and kindness. Instead of dismissing the mentions of his former life, they elaborated with an ambience of fondness and nostalgia that made Percy yearn to experience those emotions that felt so strange to him. Despite not being able to show it properly, he really did appreciate how the demigods of Camp Half-Blood were treating him because he longed to feel welcome in a place he could acknowledge as home.

He wondered why it couldn't have been the same way with a certain daughter of Athena.

"She's not an easy one to deal with, huh?" Jason said with a vague smile of wryness, though, his voice felt far away to Percy.

"Huh?" Percy asked, allowing his thoughts to dissipate as he addressed the son of Jupiter.

"Annabeth," Jason replied, "She's not really an easy person to get to know. She hated me before I could even figure out who "me" was."

There it was again. Her name. The mention of her. Hearing her name or being made aware of her presence had forced Percy to learn how to contain his breathing without feeling such disorderly emotions. At times, Percy felt sick thinking about her. It seemed as though Annabeth Chase, though memories of her were extremely muddled, was the one that persisted to remain as the only person that Percy's mind held in an everlasting loop. He remembered the first time he saw her in person rather than in a poorly formed memory. She was staring at him painfully, almost angrily, with her arms crossed and jaw locked, standing several feet away from the Greek demigods that swarmed him. Her eyes were too distinguishable for him to not help but stare. Her turbulent grey eyes burned fiercely and were vivid with their intensity that made him hold his breath. As his feet involuntarily drew him closer to her, he felt confusion hold him back as he watched panic settle in her eyes and she quickly stormed back into the confines of the Greek Camp.

This stressful dynamic continued for a week - Percy would see Annabeth alone, try to approach her, and she would ingeniously evade him. Percy couldn't fully understand how she did it. She would walk off to a secluded area as fast as she could and it would be as though she vanished. The closest he got to being able to approach her would be at counselor meetings, however, even then, she would remarkably disappear in an instant as soon as she stepped out of the Big House. He saw the best opportunity during camp fire when her guard was down and her eyes glowed so beautifully against the warm hue produce from the large fire in front of them that he couldn't resist being near her at that very moment.

"Yeah? It just makes me wonder if I never approached her would she ever try to speak to me?" Percy questioned, more-so to himself. "Also, why did she hate you?"

Jason raised an eyebrow at Percy. "I mean, I was your replacement, dude. She was looking for you like crazy and once we figured everything out, I guess I was just a constant reminder of you not being here. At least that's what Piper told me."

"Really? She hasn't acted like she missed me at all," Percy confessed somewhat grumpily, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his shorts, feeling agitated that he was forced to think about Annabeth on their way to his least favorite activity.

Jason chuckled, even more when Percy glared at him for laughing. "I don't know, I'm the last one to know anything about Annabeth but she's probably being irrationally angry at you for losing your memory because that's how most girls are, you know? Getting mad at things you can't really control."

"What was that Jason?" Percy heard Hazel's sweet voice inquire with an edge of annoyance. Beside them, Hazel and Frank fell into step with them as they all approached the archery range.

"See what I mean," Jason said gesturing at Hazel as an example, though he quickly began to fake rub his arm for comfort after Hazel threw a light punch at him. "I was just joking!"

"Sure," Hazel acquiesced, a small smile on her lips.

"Finally," Frank breathed out, a sparkle gleaming in his eyes as soon as he spotted all the targets lined up, waiting to be shot at. "Something I'm actually good at."

"Shush! You're good at a lot of things, Frank," Hazel reminded him, pulling him away from Percy and Jason to help her find a good bow to shoot with.

All around Percy were faces he was now familiar with, as familiar as one can get with being amnesic. Most of his lessons and training were spent with the older Greek campers that were usually counselors and with the centurions from most of the five cohorts. For the most part, the Roman and the Greek demigods were getting along as well as they could. Disputes and disagreements were as common as they came due to the history behind the two clashing cultures and the demigods who didn't get along typically stayed away from each other unless provoked. Percy found a nice balance between getting to know his former friends while meshing the people who were close to him at Camp Jupiter all together to feel a sense of cohesiveness. Though, the one person who served as a relentless instigator and agitator amongst most demigods was no other than Octavian and the legionnaires that followed his lead. Percy was becoming better at keeping his composure seeing as Reyna was there to constantly there to remind him to do so, but, boy, did Clarisse La Rue give him a run for his money when it came to hating Octavian. Percy heard the Ares cabin was never fond of anything Apollo related, whether it be Greek or Roman.

Octavian sniffed, looking around the archery range with distaste. "No wonder Greek civilization wasn't able to thrive after being conquered by Rome."

Around him, Percy heard mutters and saw uncomfortable shifting in body language from a lot of campers, as if they were waiting for more. By this point, many of them had become habituated to Octavian's exasperating quirks and exaggerated complaints. Percy gave the Greek demigods a lot more credit than they deserved for not feeding into Octavian's games. They were reacting much better than Percy would have if Octavian decided to mess with him.

Behind Octavian, Percy watched as Annabeth approached the range with Piper and her eyes looked rimmed with red as she narrowed them at Octavian. Annabeth roughly pushed past him to grab a bow from the station that Octavian seemingly refused to touch.

"Watch where you're going, stupid graecus," Octavian hissed, gritting his jaw. "You should know left from right at your big age by now."

Percy tensed, squeezing his fists as he took instinctive steps forward but stopped when he locked eyes with Reyna, who shook her head sternly at him. There was a lot of things he didn't know but he understood why he was Greek, being taught self-restraint was as difficult as learning all the Roman gods' names without feeling confused. The Romans were extremely disciplined and he had a feeling that before this whole amnesic-kidnapping-episode, he wasn't really someone who appreciated such control. He looked around as a lot of the Greek demigods widened their eyes in what either looked like anticipation, knowing smirks, or annoyed expressions. For some reason, the expressions they wore on their faces made Percy feel relieved, as if they knew Annabeth was more than capable of handling this on her own.

Annabeth grabbed a bow off the rack and turned to Octavian with a hostile glint in her eyes. She stepped right up to his face and said, "Let me remind you, legacy. This is Greek territory, yeah, the place that has offered you hospitality and peace amidst the start of a war where it won't matter who was better than who when we're all dead. So, whenever I take a step, you move out of my way."

To prove her point, Annabeth pushed past Octavian again to the target on the farthest right and held her bow at her side, patiently waiting for Will Solace to recover from being slightly shocked to begin instruction. Octavian's face turned so red it looked as though he was about to release an onslaught of rage unto Annabeth but Reyna was quick to reign the situation back into control like the reliable Praetor she presented herself to be.

"That's quite enough, Octavian," Reyna reprimanded, giving Octavian a cool stare. "Legionnaires, grab your bows and await instruction from Counselor Solace, now."

Percy couldn't concentrate much longer after that.

He could understand why he was attracted to Annabeth.

After awkwardly shooting arrows at the targets that had magically lit on fire and began rotating at impressive speeds, Percy had enough of trying to act like he knew what he was doing, so he put his bow away and walked over to nearby tree to lean against. He observed everyone either failing to hit the targets or yelping when an arrow whizzed pass them when someone wasn't paying attention to Will's instructions on waiting for the shooting area to be clear every five minutes before retrieving fallen arrows. Of course, the Apollo campers completely dominated, their Roman counterparts quickly catching up as they got used to the way in which the targets would rotate and shift ever-so slightly. Frank was right there with admirable skills to match. Imagine being able to master archery and being able to shape-shift? He thought Frank was a lot cooler than he let on.

And, Annabeth (of course he was watching Annabeth), wasn't too bad herself. She studied the way the targets moved and would only miss when she wasn't anticipating the sequence to change, but, even then, she would quickly adjust to the new sequence and repeat.

"Mhm," Percy heard a voice utter to his left.

Percy saw Reyna holding her bow and giving him a chastising look, instantly making Percy straighten up.

"As Praetor, you should be leading by example and not giving up when something does not interest you," Reyna reminded him, crossing her arms.

"Look, about that, can we not shoot down giving Jason back his role every time I mention it because-"

"Percy, you, a Greek, being Praetor is the best example we have of Greek-Roman alliances being able to have the capacity to thrive. You want this to work, right? Until I see where your Praetorship role is not needed, we can have discussions about who can take your position," Reyna told him firmly, taking the bow he just put away and handing it back to him.

"Well, you and I both know I'm not exactly the best. I'm trying, I really am, but I'm not the best person to execute following the rules and demanding order. Anyone with eyes can see that," Percy argued, irritably accepting the bow.

Reyna rolled her eyes. "I'd be blind if I wasn't able to tell, Percy. If you step down from Praetorship, that will further Octavian's argument of Greeks being incapable and inferior. You know there are several legionnaires who agree with those sentiments, just because they like you doesn't mean they like every Greek they have now come across. You've proved yourself and now I need you to show that Greeks are worthy. If a war were to ever come, I need you by my side. They need to know a Greek will fight for a Roman," Reyna told him seriously, speaking very lowly to avoid any suspicion.

Percy looked at her in slight annoyance. "But it shouldn't have to be that way. I shouldn't have to prove Greeks are worthy to anyone, Romans aren't the gods. If anything, we need to work on dismantling this idea of Roman superiority. This whole hate thing is distracting us from the bigger picture at large: Gaea. Isn't that the whole point of establishing a peace treaty? We should have a meeting with the centurions," Percy suggested.

Reyna shook her head, her eyes rapidly traveling downward as though attempting to deep the thought about a meeting with Romans about being prideful. "To be the best is, at large, a Roman way of thinking. I agree that there are some of us who amplify that in a harmful way, but things have been going so well. You didn't see me attacking you or Annabeth for destroying my home, correct? I've learned composure and when to choose my battles. Navigating this treaty is a reflection of that. Scenes similar to what happened with Octavian and Annabeth cannot be allowed to happen, for the sake of preserving the narrative that we are able to work together. You should speak to her about it."

Like most emotions he felt about his former girlfriend, Percy felt defensive when Reyna brought up Annabeth. "Reyna, you can't expect the Greek demigods to constantly be disrespected and not say or do anything about it. They're not going to be complacent about being disrespected. If anything, it's Octavian who we should be speaking to and I don't understand why there's such a struggle in power to where it seems like he can't be put in his place. Permanently. He's always overstepping boundaries. You're the Praetor, not him. If Romans value those in positions of power, then why are we constantly playing tug-o-war with Oct-"

"Is there a problem, Praetors, that requires you to speak so lowly to yourselves?" Octavian shouted obnoxiously, a condescending smirk marring his features. Of course, that drew the attention of everyone in the range and now Octavian wasn't the only one awaiting a response.

Percy sighed while looking at Reyna, not wanting to give in to the satisfaction of snapping at Octavian.

"If the problem concerned you, then you would be advised," Reyna responded tightly, not before giving Percy a searing look that made him roll his eyes.

Before she walked back to the lines where everyone awaited a target to shoot at, Reyna told Percy quietly, "Right now, I feel alone more than ever. All I'm asking if for you to take this role seriously and help me out. I can't do this by myself."

Percy clenched his jaw, watching Reyna walk back toward a nosey Octavian who refused to keep his eyes off of them. Percy hoped Reyna was planning to have that conversation that needed to happen with Octavian because he wasn't sure if he would like hearing what he had to say about the situation. Reyna mentioned that when the if the time comes, she knew where her loyalty lied but Percy wasn't sure if she was understanding that he was beginning to understand where his lied, too. This treaty meant so much more than the Greeks appeasing the Romans as a means of gaining their support during the war. Camp Jupiter had already been attacked, that meant that Camp Half-Blood was next.

"Okay guys! That's enough for today's archery lessons!" Will Solace's voice rang out and a chorus of relieved sighs sounded out through the archery range. "Please, pick up fallen arrows, put your bows away - nicely, nicely! Yeah, there we go! Great job today everyone!"

As everyone headed out to the archery range to head to the dining pavilion for lunch, Percy made a detour toward the Canoe Lake. After exploring Camp Half-Blood and realizing he really couldn't find peace in the woods with all the nature spirits questioning him all the time, he knew the best place for him to truly be able to wind down and gain a sense of calmness was at the Canoe Lake. Like most of his stolen memories, Percy couldn't quite remember what significance the lake held to him but its compelling qualities always made him return to stare at the water during his free time. He knew something important had happened down in the water and even though he could just ask, he oddly didn't want this memory handed to him. He wanted to remember why it was so special on his own time and was content with it being a mystery to him, seeing as it gave him more time to contemplate about everything that was occurring around him.

Percy walked down the doc, kicking off his shoes and socks to put his feet in the water as he sat down. With his powers, he knew he could just keep them on but, lately, he had been feeling this imperative impulse to grant the water the ability to feel him in the same way he felt the water. The water was beginning to feel different, seem different, and act different. Like most concerns, he kept this to himself but would make it his mission to submerge himself in the water everyday to soothe his doubts that the water was gradually beginning to slip out of his control.

Percy sighed, kicking his right foot in the water, watching in satisfaction as the canoes rippled as a result of his actions. He continued to do this for some time, hearing the canoes lightly hit each other served as a somewhat therapeutic compulsion he couldn't stop himself from doing. It was the gratification of knowing that his connection with the water produced the results that he wanted and that the water wasn't slipping away from him.

"You missing a meal?" Percy heard a voice he memorized too well, despite only hearing her speak closely for only over a day now. "That's unheard of."

"Really? Cause I guess I wouldn't know, right?" Percy retorted jokingly, not turning around to acknowledge Annabeth.

Percy heard Annabeth's footsteps pause for a moment as he spoke, but they continued on their path to him, nonetheless.

Annabeth followed Percy's earlier actions and placed her shoeless feet into the water beside him. From the corner of his eye, Percy could see Annabeth fiddling with her thumbs and lightly gnawing on her lower lip. When she realized his eyes were on her, she looked at him questioningly but he was quick to look away.

Annabeth exhaled deeply, mimicking Percy's actions with the water which instantly made him stop. He was teasing her since he could see she appeared to be apprehensive but the frown she wore expressed that she wasn't aware of that.

"I understand why you're mad at me, so I'm not expecting for you to act all buddy buddy with me all of a sudden just because said we would be," Annabeth said, peering down at the water with a wistful smile. "I'd be stupid to think you'd be fine with me holding something away from you and not expecting you to feel upset about it. It takes time, I get it, but I genuinely want to work toward being your friend. So, I'm here if you ever want to talk. About anything."

Percy nodded, gazing at her inquisitively. "Cool. Thanks. But I'm not mad at you."

Annabeth looked up from water to meet Percy's gaze with a gleam of extensive examination. "Mm. I don't think I really believe you."

"Well, do you think I should be mad at you?" Percy asked, trying his best to play it cool.

"I would be. I would definitely be mad if I was you, mainly because I'm slightly hypocritical and may elevate my opinions on others' loyalty toward me."

"Okay," Percy said easily, shrugging his shoulders to display his indifference, "Then, I'm mad at you."

Annabeth watched his face closely, aiming to divulge Percy's true emotions but pouting at him when she wasn't successful. "But you aren't. Why? It's not making sense to me. Percy, I treated you terribly and left you alone when you probably needed-"

"Annabeth."

"-me most. I really am sorry. Even if you don't know it, you would never do that to me and I feel-"

"Wise Girl."

Annabeth's breath hitched, and Percy could physically see the subtle shock settle into the frown she twisted onto her face.

"Hm. So, if I say that nickname that'll make you shut up? Noted," Percy said, not doing his best to conceal the smirk that formed on his lips. "I'm not mad at you. . .anymore. If it makes you feel better there was a moment where I was actually mad at you. I'm partially trying to figure you and this whole thing out. Maybe I should be mad, maybe I shouldn't. I get that you feel guilty but don't. We really don't have to keep talking about it. Let's just forget it happened and move on. I know you're sorry and that's all that matters at this point."

Annabeth's eyes sparkled charmingly as he watched her smile slowly, scrunching her nose up a bit - something Percy could tell that she did when she didn't necessarily agree with something. Percy was being truthful, as the day progressed, his anger settled into acceptance. He would have to figure out a way to be around Annabeth without them both feeling uncomfortable with disgusting bouts of regret and want consuming them. They were both placed in a weird situation, so it made sense that their dynamic would be weird.

"You know, she's right," Annabeth said softly, shifting her body to face Percy. "Your Praetorship means everything for this peace treaty, you can't-"

Percy narrowed his eyes, irritated that Annabeth had been listening without him knowing. "Oh, so, we're friends now. That doesn't mean that it's suddenly okay for you to eavesdr-"

"But, you're right, too," Annabeth cut him off, giving him a miffed glance as if she was annoyed he didn't allow her to finish speaking. "The Romans can't expect us to act so peacefully while they insult us under their breaths. If we don't have a conversation about it before it escalates, we'll be worrying about a lot more than Gaea. We're not just the pushovers they make us out to be."

"I know, you think I couldn't tell from how you reacted?" Percy muttered, feeling his mood decline as he thought more about it. "You shouldn't have been listening."

Annabeth glared at Percy, looking sharply out into the water. "You're right, but whatever the Romans make their business while they stay at Camp Half-Blood is directly my business whether you like that or not. It may infringe on your illusion of power Reyna may make you feel like you have, but there's a lot of responsibility and patience that comes with accepting an enemy in. I have to know every step the Romans take before they can even make a step. Reyna's motives behind keeping you as Praetor is clever, but that doesn't mean the execution of your power should be overlooked. Don't agree with everything she says just because it would convenience you to not disagree. I know you don't want any of this, but this means a lot for the future of Greek-Roman alliances. And I also know you hate feeling like a pawn but it's time to play back, Percy. You're their leader and they will respect you and others who are like you."

Percy looked at Annabeth, like, really looked at Annabeth. He found her intelligence to be beautiful and strangely endearing. Hearing her be so firm whilst maintaining this imposing, calculated tone only made him want to hear her speak further. He felt like he could listen to her drone on and on about battle plans if that meant she kept the passionate look in her eyes and the ring of adamancy that settled in her voice when she spoke.

"If you were allowed to keep your brain and be able to charmspeak, you would be unstoppable, you know?" Percy quipped, blinking somewhat slowly to fully process the intensity that highlighted her features.

Annabeth's look didn't waver as she continued to peer at Percy with tempestuous eyes. "I'm being serious, Percy. The Romans value what you can do for them, but would they honestly have accepted you into legion if you weren't as powerful as you are? That's a difference you need to see, we wouldn't just abandon you even in your moments of weakness. Reyna's decision to stay loyal to legion is a given. I just need you to understand that beneath this all, you're still Greek. I want to trust that I can depend on you if there were was ever a time you needed to choose."

The soft glow of the sun sent goosebumps across Percy's body as Annabeth grabbed his forearm to inspect the SPQR tattoo he had imprinted on his skin. Her mouth settled in a scowl as her lips twitched as she traced the trident that now scarred his skin. Just by looking at her and feeling the tightness her hands formed around his tattoo, Percy knew seeing that on his skin made her unhappy. It made him feel slightly repulsed that something about him could make her feel that dejected.

"Are you worried about what Reyna said about a Greek fighting for the Romans? Is that why we're having this conversation?" Percy asked, gently removing her fingers from his arm to gather her attention.

"For the first time in a long time, I don't know what to expect from you and that scares me. In the past, I could say 'Oh, Percy would never do that' but, now, I don't know. You have all these people telling you things about yourself, so it must be hard to find truth in a lot of the things they say. I'm just having a hard time understanding that you might not be the person I'm expecting you to be," Annabeth admitted, gnawing on her lower lip to conceal the hurt she was beginning to feel.

Before Percy could rack his brain to respond, Annabeth was taken out of her sullen emotions as she gasped and jumped to her feet, as though she was trying to get a better look at something in the water.

"D-did you see that?" Annabeth questioned, her eyes concentrated on the water.

Percy stood up to see if his vantage point would be better from above. He hadn't sensed anything unusual in the water in what could have been posed as a threat. "See what? Are you feeling okay?"

Annabeth gasped again, tugging at Percy's arm and pointing at an area in which the water rippled as whatever was beneath it disappeared.

"It's probably just a water nymph playing with you," Percy said, giving up on trying to see whatever had Annabeth so rattled.

"No. No, I could've sworn. . ." Annabeth mumbled, looking earnestly out into the water.

In a beautiful display of color, a half-horse, half-fish creature broke through the surface and emanated gloriously under the rays of the luminous sun. Percy was confusedly mesmerized by the beautiful creature as he felt this rush of familiarity overwhelm him. Looking at the creature became harrowing as random images circulated through his mind, one particularly focused on a cyclops waving at him erratically, a contagious smile branding his face. The hippocampi neighed in delight as it swam closer to the dock where Percy and Annabeth stood, one bearing a face of delighted shock and the other of painful confusion.

"Oh my gods! Percy, look, it's-"

"Rainbow."

Author's Note: I was supposed to upload this earlier this week but I broke my laptop, right before school starts! Luckily, I have this old PC that still kind of works. :/ Anyway, I hoped you guys enjoyed! The story is beginning to pick up.

CHAPTER SHOUTOUT: I've never been so tired. Lol I love your username and thank you for your review. This story is painful, emotional, and pretty draining.

Btw do we want some juicy scenes or do we want to keep it PG? This was supposed to be a hot and bothered 3 three-shot, so I'm not completely ignoring that but I would like your guys opinions. I've been focusing on the emotional aspect but honey it can get physical if we want it to get physical ;)

Stay safe!

-MotherofFandoms