— VIII. ANNABETH & ATHENA: MOTHER

"Mother…" the word is spoken with a sigh, and not for the first time, Annabeth looked away from her mother, away from the conversation they were having.

"That boy is hardly good for you," the lady Athena continued, ignoring her daughter's frustration. "He fails in school, can hardly keep a job, and he certainly—"

"Mother!" Annabeth shouted. "Enough! I get that you don't like Vaughan, but I do. He's kind to me, and he's always interested in what I say, and he keeps up with me when we spar. He always listens to me and supports my decisions and—"

"You should have stayed with Perseus," Athena said stonily. The goddesses arms are crossed, and she watches her daughter as Annabeth's jaw clenches and she squeezes her eyes shut, frustrated. Athena was disappointed. Oh, wasn't that something to think about —Athena, disappointed in one of her children's relationship choices, not their education or talents.

"Mother." Annabeth began cooly, searching for the right words. "Mother, it wasn't my choice. Percy… needed someone else." She scoffed, tired and frustrated at repeating the same conversation. "Whoever said relationships should be built on trauma obviously never went through a traumatic experience. Look, Mom, we weren't good for each other anymore. All we did was drag each other down until both of us were drowning. I couldn't… neither of us could take it anymore."

"And so you leave? And immediately enter in a relationship with this boy who hardly gives you the respect you deserve—"

"Vaughan loves me. He's always there when I need him. He cooks breakfast and dinner and leaves little notes all over the apartment, and he drives me to therapy and supports me and… and I can look at him without being terrified that he's going to die. That I'm going to die." Annabeth covered her face with her hands and breathed deeply, slowly.

"And yet you still love Perseus." Athena commented.

"Of course I do!" Annabeth shouted. "It's Percy! How couldn't I love him? But even though I love him, I'm not about to drag him down— drag both of us down in a spiral of despair and hatred and… gods, Mother, did you really come here to bother me about my choice in boyfriend?"

"No." Athena said, but she didn't elaborate, or explain why exactly she'd come. "But now I see you, and you're unhappy."

"Unhappy or not, Percy and I need to move on from each other." Annabeth said firmly. "Every second of our relationship, after Tar… after the pit, was weighed down by fear. Maybe, maybe, five, ten, twenty years from now we'll see each other again, and we'll be in the right headspace to move on. But right now? Being together will only make things worse."

— next: XI. LUKE & BELLEROPHON: PRIDE