Chapter 41: Annabeth's Fake Knowledge
Disclaimer: No one owns PJO…
Percy's POV:
Let's just say my conversation with Thalia didn't go quite smoothly. It went from "Kelp Head" all the way down to physical violence. Of course I would never hit a girl, even if that girl is Thalia. Plus Nico is there, so he'll probably kick my butt if I would even touch his fiancé's hair. Luckily for her (more likely for me) that Nico was able to step in between us before any blood started coming out.
"I mean it Nico; your fiancé is going to kill me someday." I sighed as we walked back to our rooms.
"She has her reasons man, she cares about Annabeth."
"And you think I don't?"
"I'm not saying that you don't, I'm just saying that you should tell Annabeth. Either you tell her, or she's going to figure it out. She's smarter than I thought." Nico admitted.
I grinned almost taking pride in how smart my girlfriend is, "She's called Wise Girl for a reason." I mumbled mostly to myself.
Nico shook his head, "Just remember, even when you tell her about her mother's death, you can't mention how there's Kronos involvement in there. That will just put her in more harm. Simply it's because you were drunk and got into an accident." Nico reminded me,
"Just relax, I'll tell her when it's right, plus it's not like I'm the only one keeping secrets. She was keeping secrets from the very first time we met." I pointed out.
"Saying that is not really going to help with her anger when you're confronting her." Nico advised as we were nearing my room.
"If I'm confronting her." I emphasized.
"Percy, just don't forget what Thalia told you. I swear you nearly gave us a heart attack when we realized the both of you were missing. Thalia does care for you as well. She cares for the both of you actually."
"She's doing a pretty good job of showing it." I grumbled.
Nico shrugged, "It's the thought that counts right?"
"Just go back to your fiancé," I told him as I stopped in front of my door.
Nico stared back and forth as if checking for eavesdropper, "Actually, about that… we're not particularly engaged."
I stared at him.
"Don't get me wrong, I love her and everything, but we're not exactly engaged. It's only for the purpose of making sure you're okay and Thalia wanted to… well keep an eye on you guys."
"Wait what?"
"We're not engaged." Nico emphasized as if he's trying to get me to understand something.
"Well yeah… so are you guys broken up or something?"
Nico stared at me weirdly, "What gave you that idea?"
"Well… if you guys are dating, you might as well just say that you're engaged." I pointed out.
Nico shook his head and for once he looked lost, "Well we're not."
"You've been dating for like a year-"
"More than a year."
"Okay three years."
"More." Nico urged.
"Anyways," I said trying to not bring up my bad memory. "You've been dating for who knows how long, don't you think-"
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about."
"Okay? What might that be?"
Nico sighed. "You're a mushy guy Percy, any ideas how to propose to a girl?"
I laughed, "I never thought there would be a day where Nico Di Angelo asks me about girl trouble."
Nico clamped a hand over my mouth, "Announce it to the world will you!?" He hissed.
"Okay," I tried to keep my laughter down a bit, "Let's see the classic ways are rings and roses. Then there's always the going down on your knees. Other than that… I'm stuck."
"Gee… you're a real help, I could've gotten that from love dramas or something."
"Woah, you're good." I said surprised.
Nico shook his head, "Just-"He looked at Annabeth's room. "Try to stay on the down-low for the next few days. I don't want any trouble."
"Down-low, I got this. Trust me nothing can go wrong. You just need to worry about proposing to your fiancé… man… that just wounds weird." I shook my head and gave a reassuring look towards Nico. "Remember the Stolls are calling a bachelor night about your so-called engagement." I called out.
Nico gave me the barest trace of a smile before disappearing around the corner. I was about to open my door when I suddenly heard Emily's voice.
"Percy! Hey!" She quickly stopped right in front of me to catch her breath.
"It's not every day that you're calling me by my real name… what do you want?"
"Hey!" She defended herself. "Stop accusing me of being cunning."
"Well aren't you?" I shot back.
Emily shrugged, "Anyways, have you seen Annabeth? She told me to meet her here so that she could tell me something about A…" Emily paused as if trying to remember. "Athena I think-"Emily began as I felt my heart stop.
"Her mom? What about her mom?" I panicked.
"Who's her mom?" Emily asked clearly clueless.
"Never mind that, what else did she say?"
Emily narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "I'm not sure, something about you keeping a secret from her. I don't know…" Emily said quietly. "She seems pretty pissed off."
My throat seems to have trouble coming up with words. My lungs seem to be unable to take in any oxygen and I felt myself gasping for air. "D-did she say anything else?"
"Should she be saying anything else?"
I pretended to play dumb, "I don't know… umm… did you know why she was mad?"
"How should I know? She just said something about a secret you're keeping and that she's going to murder you alive if you dare appear in front of her face again."
My heart nearly stops at that, 'She couldn't have found out about her mom right?' I asked myself before finding the words to talk to my half-sister again. "S-she didn't… w-what exactly did she say?" I said trying not to stutter.
"Why? Seriously why are you suddenly all nervous?" Emily asked curiously.
"I'm not… there's nothing-"
"I never said there was anything." Emily pointed out.
"I didn't say-"
Emily glared at me for a second. "You're not cheating on Annabeth are you?" Emily didn't even give me a change to answer before she continued, her voice rising with every word, "Percy, I'll kick your ass! If you even dare hurt Annabeth at all. You might be my half-brother but I'll not have a jackass like you-"
"I'm not cheating on anyone, much less Annabeth! "
"Good, cause if you even dare…" She let that threat hang in the air for a second before her face drifted towards confusion. "But wait… if that's not it, why is she mad at you?"
I stayed silent.
"I'm guessing there is a secret?"
I didn't answer.
"You can tell me you know, or Annabeth will just spill it to me later." Emily urged me.
"I'm just—she will—it's not-," I struggled to form complete sentences as Emily studied me and look at Annabeth's room from in front of us. "I think you should try to go in there and calm her down. She was pretty mad."
"Was she-"
"Ready to kill you? Probably." Emily answered and for a moment she looked almost guilty. "But whatever you're hiding from her, you might as well try to explain yourself before she gets really mad at you. Trust me, Annabeth will hear you out."
I hesitated with my hand on the door handle and took a deep breath. 'Well I was going to have to tell her sooner or later…' I thought to myself. 'But how did she even find out about this? Only Nico and Thalia know about this and they wouldn't- Thalia… she wouldn't tell Annabeth… would she?'
I didn't give it another thought as I swung the door open to meet with an angry looking Annabeth.
"Oh so you're finally back?" Annabeth said, anger shooting through every word.
"What do you mean?" I tried to play it off dumb.
She continued to glare at me, "That secret, that one secret! And you kept it from me?"
"What secret?" I gave her a clueless look, but knew that the effort was futile.
"How about you ask yourself that question?" Annabeth shot back.
"Look I don't know-"
"Stop lying Percy! Is that what you've been doing? Lying to me this whole time? Do you actually feel guilty towards me or do you actually like me?"
I dropped the act and tried to meet her gaze, "I swear there's no guilt, I didn't know until afterwards!"
"And you never thought to tell me this?" Annabeth questioned me. "Maybe we shouldn't be dating at all-"
"Annabeth I can explain!" I quickly walked towards her and tried to grab her hand.
She pushed me away and glared at me, "Seriously Percy! How could you hide this from me? When were you planning to tell me?"
"Look. I tried many times to tell you, but every time… you just looked so sad I couldn't-"
"What does that have to do with anything?!" She yelled at me.
"I knew if I told you, you would be so mad… actually probably more sad than mad. But worst of all, you would think that I'm a monster."
"Oh monster?" Annabeth laughed bitterly. "I think you were already a monster from keeping that big of a secret from me."
"It's all in the past though! And I didn't even mean for it to happen." I tried to tell her.
For a moment Annabeth's face morph to one of confusion but her anger quickly returned. "Well if it's in the past then it shouldn't affect me too much, but it does! So maybe it's not all in the past!"
"I didn't even know who it was at the moment! I know what Thalia probably told you but I swear I didn't even know!"
"Does it really matter what Thalia told me? Maybe if you had stepped up and told me the whole secret first-"
"I couldn't! Not when… not when I knew that you would hate me for it."
"Then tell me Percy… why exactly would I hate you for it?" Annabeth urged me; her eyes were red with anger.
"She was your mom… you told me you admire her, you loved her. I just couldn't-"
Annabeth's eyes lit up as if she had just figured out something, but the same angry look returned just as fast. "If she was my mom Percy, I should be able to know-"
"Exactly she was your mom! Even if Nico and Thalia found that information in their agency, she was your biological mother, I couldn't tell you that."
"Tell me what?!" Annabeth screamed in anger. "Tell me what exactly happened to my mom! I want it to come right out of your mouth Perseus Jackson-"I flinched as she said my real name. "I want you to stop being a coward and actually say it!"
"You already know… what's the point?" I mumbled shamefully. "I'm sorry Annabeth, I didn't mean to. I just couldn't bear the thought of not having you in my life. I really like you, and I just couldn't live without you."
Annabeth looked at me, her face one of determination, "I want you to be the one to tell me, not Thalia, not anyone. Percy, you're my boyfriend and if you are going to let this secret keep staying between us, I don't think we're going to work."
"Annabeth…" I tried to get up the courage to say it, but the words were stuck in my throat. "I-I can't."
Annabeth studied me for a second before her stare harden, "You're a coward as always," She sneered. "You can't say it yourself what happened. You had to rely on Thalia to tell me and-"
"You want me say it?! You want me to bring up the topic of your mother's death again?! I just don't want to see you hurt anymore! I'm trying to make you feel better by not mentioning her death at all! "
Annabeth stepped back in alarmed, but she quickly regained her composter. "I already know it, so what's the point-"
"Exactly! What is the point? Why are you so determined in trying to get me to say it?!"
Annabeth hesitated for a moment before answering, "I want you to own up, for once being responsible! For once not being a coward, and for once be honest!"
"Oh? So I'm the liar now? I'm the coward? I'm the one not taking responsibilities? If I remember correctly, our whole relationship started out as a lie." Okay, maybe that was a low blow, but Annabeth was just trying to piss me off and all I'm trying to do is not mentioning the past anymore.
This time she looked at me, full on furious, "Why are you bring that up?! It has nothing to do with this! If only you would man up and actually tell me face to face instead of relying on Thalia to say it for you!"
That was it! I couldn't stand it that she's constantly calling me a coward or a liar! In short, I just lost control of my words and yelled at her.
"Fine I'll tell you! I'm the one responsible for your mother's death! I was the other driver in the other car. I was the one who was all depressed and got involved with some criminals that plotted your mother's death! Are you happy now? I killed your mother! I killed Athena Chase!"
Everything was silent that I could almost hear a pin drop. "What did you say?" Annabeth said her voice nearly breaking.
Annabeth's POV:
Needless to say, I was in shock. To be honest, I didn't know anything about Percy's secret but I was so damn curious so of course I had Emily help me. The plan was simple, I pretended to know about Percy's secret and with a bit of prying from Emily, Percy was bound to spill out his secret. However… I didn't expect this… this…
"Annabeth… I'm sorry I didn't mean to"
"Did you kill my mom?" I said almost in a whisper.
He didn't answer, but that was enough for me. I couldn't talk to him right now, I knew if I said anything else I would lose control. I would no longer be the calm and collected Annabeth; I'll probably lash out at him in anger. I needed to process my thoughts. I knew yelling at him would do no use, and screaming on top of my lungs or even hitting him wouldn't do any good
"You killed my mom?" I said this one in a more questioning tone.
I felt Percy's eye staring at me, first in remorse and then in confusion, but still he remained silent all the same. My head began spinning and screaming, 'Not Percy… not the Percy Jackson that killed my mom.' I couldn't accept that fact. I began to back away from him, "No… no, no." I said quietly to myself.
He looked at me questionably as if trying to understand the thoughts going through my head right now. Percy took one step towards me, but right then I lost it.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" I screamed, losing complete control of my emotions. I knew what I had told myself so many times beforehand that I will forgive whoever was involved in the car accident with my mom. I was going to be the nice person and not hold any charges against that person, but whatever I promised myself beforehand, it just disappeared from my head as I was faced with the single person who caused my mother's death.
Percy stood still where he was as if trying to understand what was happening, his hand that was meant to reach out to comfort me, retreated back quickly in shock, "Annabeth…" He said quietly as if he's close to tears.
"Get out." I said weakly, trying to pin down the swirling thoughts in my head.
"Annabeth I can explain just let me-"
"Get out." I repeated myself trying to contain my anger. I could feel my heart rate rising, whether it was out of surprise of anger I couldn't tell.
"Please just trust me-"
"GET OUT!" I finally cracked.
"If you would just let me explain myself!" Percy yelled in frustration.
I slapped him, right across the face without another thought. Only when I've already slapped him, I felt a sudden pain just by looking at him. He didn't even try to stop me; he just stood there accepting the punches as if he's some sort of abused animal.
"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!?" I screamed and pushed him away from me. "You knew how much she meant to me! You knew yet you kept this secret from me." I cried as the tears began to blind my sight. "Just leave me alone!"
"Annabeth, just trust me this once, please."
"Percy I trusted you over and over again. I trusted that you'll trust me with anything. I trusted that you were a good guy. I trusted that you knew how important my mom was to me. "
"I knew your mom was important that's why I just couldn't-"
"That's just excuses!" I yelled at him. "You cared about me? Are you sure it isn't because you felt guilty about killing my mom? All those time where you claim that you cared about me… it was all just guilt just to make up what you did to my mom right?"
Percy's eye widen, "N-no, that's not, I would never do that. I do care-"
I covered my ears, "No you don't! STOP THAT!"
"I didn't know until a couple months ago-"
"Stop lying to me!"
"Annabeth please, just stop being stubborn for once and listen to what I have to say!" He said a bit frustrated.
"Oh? So I'm the stubborn one now? What about you? That night, you were drunk! The police filled that the driver was drunk! You were drunk, yet your stubbornly claim that you could drive! That alone cost my mom's life."
"You think it's only your mom that I'm feeling guilty for? My friends died that day too! That whole accident has been haunting ever since!"
"You probably don't even feel anything except guilt, no sorrow at all."
"How could you just say that?" Percy's voice rose. "Only guilt? They were my best friend's Annabeth-"
"She was my mom, the closest person I've ever considered as a family and you just-"
"Annabeth please-"
"I HATE YOU!" A look of hurt washed over his face as I said that.
A wave of silence followed that sentence. On a normal basic, it would seem that the word "I hate you" doesn't mean anything, but for some reason, both of us knew there was more behind this. Whatever hatred I saved for the person who caused my mom's death just came rushing out all in three words. Percy looked uncomfortable as if he wasn't sure how to respond to my sudden outburst, but I was too confused and troubled to comfort him in any way.
"You hate me?" Percy asked as if he was a preschooler lost within a big school. I tried to avoid eye contact with him but it's like trying to float in midair. "Annabeth, I swear there is more to this story." He tried to tell me, looking more frantic than ever.
"Well, then tell me." I said after a while as I calmed down.
Percy stared at me for a few seconds, "I-"He stopped.
"Four years ago… the day my mom died. Four years ago Rachel broke up with you?" I remembered. "Is that how you take out your frustration? Causing other people to die?"
"I was depressed that Rachel broke up with me, but that wasn't the reason!" He tried to tell me.
"Well then prove me wrong." I said trying to maintain calm to hear the whole story.
At that moment, footsteps were heard going in towards my room as the two engaged couple stepped in with questioning look. "We heard you screaming-"Nico began.
"What the hell happened?" Thalia asked noticing the tension in the air.
I ignored them, knowing that the two of them knew exactly what it was that Percy was hiding. Percy struggled as he stared between the engaged couple and me, "Should we be leaving…?" Nico asked hesitantly.
No one answered him.
"Are you going to tell me or not?" I pressed him.
Percy once again glanced over to Nico and Thalia who were still as clueless as ever until he finally made up his mind, "I wasn't drunk, I didn't deliberately drive carelessly to kill your mom."
I waited for him to continue as the two couple had grim looks on their faces. "That's all? So it's still your fault!? If you weren't drunk how did you get into a car accident?"
Percy looked troubled, "I-… what if it was your mom who was drunk?"
"Are you calling my mom a drunk?!" I glared at him. If he wanted to make me angry, he's doing a pretty good job of it.
"N-no!" He stuttered. "That's not-"
"Then what?"
"Annabeth, I was there." Nico spoke up. "It was simply a total accident. It was simply a skid on the road that caused the two cars to collide."
"As much as I appreciate your cover for Percy's secret, there's no way I believe something that dumb." I shot back.
"It's true." Percy piped up, but there was something else in his voice… guilt.
I was done with this, if he insists on lying to me… I took a deep breath trying to calm myself down and regain my sane head. "Percy I can't do this anymore."
Percy stared at me, wide-eye, and "What do you mean?"
Maybe I was being rash, but I couldn't stop myself. I turned away from him, "I don't think I've ever loved you. Whatever it was… none of it was real. Just like your feelings for me."
Percy's eyes scanned over as if trying to detect anything that could tell him it was a big fat joke, "Annabeth, please, all that happened in the past."
"You don't get it right Percy? We're never going to get past this; you were the cause of my mom's death, that's just… I can't-"I turned away from him.
"Annabeth just listen-"
"Listen to what Percy?! Are you going to tell me the truth or hide behind that dumb lie of yours?" I pressed him again.
Percy stayed silent.
"Are you going to tell me then?" I pressed again.
Again he stayed silent.
"Annabeth, cut him so slack, he's just-"Nico began before I interrupted him.
"Be quiet Nico, you guys know what he is hiding and yet you're still lying along with him." I pointed out. I took one last glance at Percy, "If there's anything that I can't stand, it's people who lies to me."
A moment of silence passed between us. I could tell that Nico and Thalia were staring at each other as if deciding whether or not to say something, but mostly I was focused on Percy. He glared at the floor as if he was thinking hard about something.
"Does this mean you don't want to be together?" He asked quietly.
I shook my head, "This means that I don't even want to know you anymore." I said quietly. "I don't want to see you anymore, not when I knew what had happened to my mom. If you can't be honest with me, I don't see how we could even continue our relationship."
Percy's eye drifted between my hand and the floor, the red mark on his face seems to be nothing compared to the pained look in his eyes. We both continued to stare at each other. I glared at him, and he simply returned my glare with a sadden look. "I'm sorry," He said finally and turned away from me.
Okay serious business I just gotta say RIP Cory Monteith or perhaps some of you guys knew him as Finn Hudson from Glee. Honestly I was rather surprise to hear of this news, I mean I'm not a crazy obsessed Glee fan or anything, but I'm still trying to wrap my mind around his whole death. I mean like this is my first legit celebrity death that I'm actually old enough to understand from. From what I have seen of him in interviews and such, he was a great and funny guys (you guys should totally search up his audition tape, it's just so cute… I admit it completely warmed up my heart). What really sucks though was that he was trying to rebuild his life by admitting himself into rehab voluntarily, but in the end… anyways Cory, you will be missed.
Two lessons learned from his death
1) cherish the people around you
2) I know this lesson has been thought since preschool… but please stay away from drugs, I know for some people it's an escape from reality and such, but there's other ways then going to drugs.
Prayers to his friends, family, and of course his loving girlfriend Lea. I know that some of you guys probably want to tweet Lea and such, but I think just sincere prayer is enough, it doesn't help to remind her of her boyfriend's death.
Another note… yesterday was the worst Saturday ever… you guys will know what I mean if you keep up with our so called justice system… Trayvon Martin Case to be exact.
I really don't feel like joking right now… I guess that sorta explain the probably crappy chapter with a crappy ending huh?
Tell me if you see anything happy in our society for a change :)
AAZ