Chapter 42: Did You Actually Love Me?

Disclaimer: Yeah yeah I don't own Percy Jackson

Percy's POV:

"Percy talk to me." Nico's voice called out from behind me. I've spent the past couple hours roaming around the cruise ship, trying to process everything that have happened, but again came up with no luck. So far I did a pretty good job of dodging everyone that I knew, but Nico was bound to find me one way or another. "Percy stop!" Nico called out again.

I continued walking, ignoring him completely. Maybe if I've never allowed Nico to take on the case Anna- I shook my head. 'Don't think about her. Don't think about her, don't think about-'

"Just because you're pissed, doesn't mean you could ignore me."

I ignored him and came upon the back of the ship.

"Percy!"

I didn't even bother turning.

"Just because some girl broke up with you, you're going to become some sort of dead human again?!" Nico yelled at me.

I glared hard at the sea. 'She's not just some girl, she's Annabeth. The pretty yet obnoxious girl that I've grown attracted to.'

"Percy stop you're going to-"

'Clear my head, yes I need to clear my head.' I said to myself.

"YOU'RE GOING TO JUMP OF-"

I jumped off into the cold water, and before anyone accuse me of suicide… I would like to say that I love life very much.

"DAMMIT PERCY!" Nico cursed from the ship. I could see him trying to find something to reel me in, but failing miserably.

The cold hit me fast and almost immediately whatever thoughts or troubled that was swirling around my head seems to disappear into the cold. The water was my territory, well used to be my territory. I was comfortable in it, unlike the situation with Annabeth; I actually knew how to maneuver through the water. With Annabeth, everything is unpredictable but at the same times planned. How did that grey-eyed, blond-haired girl ever did it like that? I'll probably never know, but it's what makes her unique in every way and-

"PERCY GRAB ONTO THAT!" Nico screamed interrupting my thoughts.

I sighed, ignoring the tube that he threw at me and swimming back to the ship. Nico hurried over to the side of the ship and helped me up. "Are you stupid?"

I wiped the water out of my eyes, "I needed to cool off."

"Cool off my ass, you could've died. First there are sharks inside the water! You could get pneumonia! Just because Annabeth broke up-"

"Just shut up Nico, I don't care what she does-"

Nico stared at me, "Did that jump destroy your brain?"

"I don't care about her; it's probably better if I just stay down there and never come up."

"In other words die?"

"Such a ray of sunshine aren't you?"

Nico glared at me, "I'm not kidding Percy."

"What? Does it look like I'm kidding? If my existence just destroys everything in sight, what's the point of showing my face up here-"

"Shut the hell up Percy!" Nico shoved me against the ship wall. He grabbed my collar and stared at me, filled with seriousness. "You're not going to be dying because of some damn girl-"

"She's not just-"

"As of this moment, Annabeth is just another damn girl and you can either suck it up and find out the truth behind her mother's death, or continuing living life like a dead zombie."

"I told you I don't care, if she doesn't want me, there's no point in trying to find out about the past."

"You can't just keep running away like this you know?"

This time I couldn't take it anymore, I shoved him back and nearly punched him the process. "Running away? I did everything that you and Thalia told me to do. Told Annabeth about her mom, not be with Annabeth, what else now? What else am I running away from?"

"Me?" Nico said a bit unsure and scared at my show of violence.

Suddenly I felt guilty, just because I was mad, I took it out on Nico. I took a deep breath, "Sorry, I'm just… troubled."

"I would be lying if I said I wasn't pissed off because I caused all this trouble for you." Nico sighed as he dusted off his pants. "So… what exactly happened between you and Annabeth?"

"What else is there to tell?" I said miserably. "She found out, I got dumped, end of story."

"On the bright side, you finally told her." Nico pointed out.

"Not exactly the bright side I'm looking for at this moment Nico." I sighed as I finally stepped on deck.

Nico shrugged, "Just give her some time, Annabeth will come around. If she really does like you, she'll probably give you another chance to explain yourself when she sorts her feelings out a bit." He paused for a bit. "Honestly, it's not exactly correct to say that you killed her mom. When you told her, you said that you killed her mom-"

"I know, I know what I said." I rested on the rail of the ship and turned towards Nico. "I was guilty that I kept it in for so long but at the same time she was deliberately trying to provoke me."

"You're not exactly in the right position to say that she's provoking you-"

"She didn't even know about what happened to her mom, but she deliberately tried to make me believe that she knew so that I could tell her what I knew so that she could know what it was that she doesn't know."

"Excuse you?" Nico said with a half-smile on his face.

"Just shut up man, you know what I mean."

"Afraid so, but you have to give Annabeth props for that." Nico said with an impressed look. "I mean, that plan and that great act, I mean the tears were-"

"The tears were real." I pointed out.

"The anger wasn't, at least not at the beginning." Nico shot back.

"Whose side are you on exactly?" I gave him a look as he returned it with a shrug.

"Neither, I mean sure I understand where you're coming from. Technically, it's probably not even your fault at all, but at the same time, Annabeth has a right for being like this."

"You say it like you actually do understand this." I scoffed.

"Psychology course in high school did do its job." Nico offered with a smile.

I didn't return the smile, "How do you do it man?"

"I listen to the teachers and did all my homework perhaps?" Nico answered a bit confused.

I managed a slight smile, "Nah, I meant forgiving such a jerk like me."

"What do you mean?"

"Bianca." I stated simply as Nico's face darkened. "Theoretically, if Bianca didn't save me, she would've been alive-"

"And you would've died." Nico finished. He shrugged and managed a light chuckle, "Bad luck follows you everywhere huh?" I simply shrugged. "Who knows? I mean you did pull me out of the gang business right?"

"But you probably would've never joined the gang if not for Bianca's death." I pointed out.

Nico thought about it and for a second his eyes flashed with anger, "You're not really helping yourself with all this." He finally said.

"I'm just saying-"

"What if you had died then? How would everyone else react-?"

"But Bianca would've been alive." I added.

Nico let out a sigh, "There's no use in dwelling with the past. Bianca made her choice pretty clear when she decided to save you. And you did your part in taking care of me. Plus, if you hadn't been there, I probably would've lost Thalia a long time ago."

"What do you mean?"

"I wasn't exactly the best boyfriend to Thalia since Bianca died." Nico admitted. "I blew off our dates, ignored the missions that our boss gave to the two of us, leaving her to deal with everything alone. On some occasion, I could've hurt her if not for her own capabilities."

"This has nothing to do with me-"

"Yes it does, let's just say your situation is much worse than mine."

"Gee… if you're trying to make me feel better, you're doing one hell of a job." I mumbled sarcastically.

Nico faked a bow, "Appreciate your gratitude, but maybe if you want to actually return that the favor of cheering you up, I have a little proposition."

"Now this is where I'm supposed to get worried."

"Don't worry, it's something pretty minor. Once you are finished, there will be no more sneak attack on you or past coming back to haunt you."

"And you couldn't tell me this before because?"

"You were with Annabeth." Nico stated simply. "Anyways, pack your stuff and you could stay over my room."

"With Thalia-?"

"Of course, I mean, she IS my fiancée."

"She's going to kill me!"

Nico smiled. "So are you in?"

I hesitated. "I'll think about it."

"This is a once in a lifetime offer."

"Oh please, you probably need my help."

Nico grinned, "So are you in?"

"You still haven't told me about it." I pointed out.

"Nah I need your words first, there is no saying what your reaction would be if I told you the plan… actually I haven't even told Thalia yet." Nico said meekly.

I raised an eyebrow. "Should I start worrying?"

"It's completely safe and I promise you'll come back alive." Nico assured me.

"And why wouldn't I come back alive in the first place?"

Nico patted my back, "Come on, there's going to be a party later on below decks and we need to find you some suitable clothes."

Annabeth's POV:

Torn apart would be an understatement to what I was feeling right now. To be honest, I was expecting Percy to just crack and tell me exactly what he was hiding because if I knew Percy he was incapable of murder or killing or anything of the sort. But the way he looked at me when he said that he killed my mom, I could never get that out of my head. I wasn't sure where he went, but after a moment hesitation Nico assured me that he would make sure that Percy was okay and I replied with an easy, "I don't care what happens to him."

The first few minutes with my best friend were in complete silence as she waited for me to grasp my head about what had just happened.

"Annabeth, are you okay?" Thalia asked after a while. I stared at her face that held genuine concern.

"You knew…" I began. "You knew about this Thalia, yet you never told me. Why didn't you? Percy Jackson, you knew it was him and you never told me."

For once Thalia was at lost for words.

By this time I could feel the emotion building up and a feeling that I couldn't really explain. In that moment all I really wanted to do was curled up in a ball and forget everything. "Fine… then at least tell me if it is it true?"

Rather than answering, all my best friend could do was nod.

He killed my mom. He killed my mom. I had no idea how many time that phrase have been going through my head in the pass few minutes, but now it seems like it's the only thing I could afford to be thinking of. Could it be that everything he said or did for me was just a lie to help fill up the guilt he was feeling? Could he have plotted the entire scheme of making me going over to New York? Maybe Emily was also involved with this? I shook my head, I was overanalyzing everything. If there's anything true about Percy Jackson was that he actually did believe that I was his sister for a while.

"Annabeth?" Thalia waved her hand in front of my face as if trying to get my attention. "You were mumbling to yourself, I was getting a bit worried."

This time I snapped for no apparent reason, "You could've given me a warning about all this! Why didn't-"

"Annabeth… your mom was a pretty secretive woman." Thalia began. "If anything, she was dangerous herself-"

"Don't talk about my mom that way." I warned her. My mom was like a role model for me. The most intelligent woman I've ever known in my whole life. She was flawless and perfect in every way aside from being the mother I could live with.

"I don't care how you perceive your mother as, but it's true, she was a dangerous woman. You knew she was an architect, but did you know anything else about your mother Annabeth?"

"This is not about my mother though! It's about Percy Freaking Jackson! It's about how he killed my mother and hid that from me. He lied to me from the beginning-"

"Didn't you do the same thing to him?" Thalia asked.

"You've never been so protective of him before, why start now?" I asked a bit suspicious at Thalia's sudden change of perspective on Percy.

"Percy is not a bad guy Annabeth."

"No, he's a murderer." I said stubbornly.

"You don't know that."

"Fine, tell me the truth then, was he involved in my mother's death?"

She stayed silent.

"Thalia Grace!" I snapped.

She flinched at her real name, "What?"

"Answer me."

"I did warn you to beware of him, you didn't listen." Thalia said hesitantly knowing that I was ready to kill her any second now.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!" I yelled at her.

"Annie, you're not really helping me out here with your vague questions." Thalia snorted sarcastically.

"I want you to explain the whole Percy situation."

"Uh… you guys just broke up?" Thalia offered.

"Thalia… quit playing dumb, it does not suit you." I grumbled before sitting down on my bed. "I don't get how he could-"I stopped mid-sentence.

I couldn't understand, if he knew what had happened to my mom the whole time… was everything just an act? I shook my head. It wasn't possible, he didn't even know about my little plan with Emily in the beginning. "Explain my mother's death, was Percy telling the truth?"

Thalia raised an eyebrow, "What do you think? You knew him better than me. You know full well what kind of person Percy was."

"Past-tensed 'was'. I don't even know him anymore. To be honest, I don't think I even knew him at all!"

"Let me ask you this … are you pissed because you found out who killed your mom, or mad because that person is Percy?"

I stayed silent. There were way too much emotions swirling around in my head right now that I couldn't keep them all straight.

"I guess that answers the question." Thalia concluded.

"You didn't even know what I was going to say."

"That's not the point."

"Just let me have some time alone for a bit." I said after a while.

Thalia nodded and stood up. "You promise you won't do anything stupid?"

I managed a slight smile, "When have I ever done something stupid Thals?"

Thalia nodded, "Fair enough. You sure you are okay though Annie?"

I didn't even bother glaring at her, "Yeah…"

I placed my head in my hands and from her next words to me, I could tell that Thalia could see how distressed I was, "I can promise you one thing though Annabeth..." Thalia voice hesitated from in front of me. "Percy wasn't the person who was responsible for your mother's death."

"Then who?"

Thalia didn't answer instead she said something else, "He really did love you Annabeth."

Noticing my lack of response, Thalia decided to leave the room closing the door silently behind her.

~PAGEBREAK~

Needless to say, walking alone on the boat while everyone is below deck for some party is rather boring. "Maybe I should've just stayed at the party." I mumbled to myself.

'And risk seeing Percy?' the all-knowing voice inside my head asked me.

"Great I'm talking to myself now."

Well to say that everyone was below deck is an understatement; there were a handful of people above deck. Not that much people but enough to know that the cruise ship wasn't haunted. Is the ship haunted? Probably haunted with bad luck because the next thing I know I was head bumping into the one and only Perseus Jackson.

"A-Annabeth!" Percy said in alarmed as if he couldn't believe his eyes. The way he was walking, hands in his pocket, head down and so deep in thought that he wouldn't noticed me made him seem so innocent that I couldn't help but soften a bit.

"Hi." I said indifferently.

Percy seems to be disappointed with my lack of response. "So umm…" Percy reached back and scratched his head, a little thing he always does when he's nervous, not that I noticed it or anything but it was pretty obvious that he was nervous. A silence passed us. "I'm sorry." He finally said.

"You said that already." I reminded him.

"Yeah I know," He was doing everything he could to avoid eye contact with me.

"Then what's the point of saying it again?"

Percy chuckled softly as if thinking to himself, "I guess there's no point in saying it then huh?"

Knowing Percy, it's not really his nature to apologize even if he is wrong, but for Percy to apologize twice… I really didn't know what to think of it.

I sighed, "Why aren't you below decks?"

Percy let out a sigh of relief as if he was glad that I didn't mention anything about the incident that had just happened. "I could ask you the same thing."

I stared at him, for someone that's responsible for my mother's death; he seems to be rather calm when talking to me. It was almost as if he wasn't responsible for my mother's death… I shook my head, 'No way, he said it himself.'

"I needed some time to think." I finally answered.

He nodded.

Another silence followed.

"It's a pretty mellow night." Percy commented.

"Yeah…" I couldn't help but think of how it would've been a perfect night to sneak off the boat just like before.

Apparently Percy was thinking the same thing because he cleared his throat and replied, "There's an empty boat just over there-"

"I'm good."

Percy nodded as another silence followed.

Thalia's word replayed in my head. "Percy wasn't the person who was responsible for your mother's death."

"About my mother's death…"

Percy's eye shot up. "Yeah?"

"You said you killed her…" I let that thought hang in the air for a second.

Percy look thoughtfully at me, "Annabeth-"

"I want you to be completely honest with me."

Percy looked around the upper deck as if he's afraid that someone might overhear our conversation. "I'll be honest with you… but we need to talk somewhere more private."

I hesitated a moment.

"I can't talk here…" Percy's voice dropped to a lower volume, "If you want the complete truth-"

"Fine…" As if by instinct I just grabbed his hand and led him to my room… well I guess you could call it his room too. Before I opened the door I turned to him, "While you're here, you might as well start cleaning out your stuff."

Percy looked like he wanted to say something but then stopped himself, "I got it."

~PAGEBREAK~

"Continue." I told him as I sat down on my bed. Percy paced around my room as if trying to release all his nervous energy.

"I was there when your mother died, I was the other driver in the other car, but I promise that I didn't kill her." Percy said hopefully as if he wanted me to get the message.

Needless to say, I didn't completely understood what he meant by that. "Then why did you-"

"It's complicated."

"Obviously," I rolled my eyes at the most obvious statement.

Percy managed a slight smile before it quickly dampened. I waited for Percy to speak up, to finally tell me the truth. "The truth…" Percy's eye got a bit of a faraway look in them. "The truth is that your mom wasn't the woman that you thought she was."

Instantly my defense of my mom began to take in effect and I stood up to meet his face, "Not who she said she was? Well, the same could be said for you huh?"

"Annabeth you don't get it do you? Your mom may be known worldwide as a famous architect but that was just her alibi. She's gifted in architecture, sure I'll give you that, but she's also intelligent. Intelligent enough that she was able to hack into the government security and carry out elaborate plans to kill a gang leader-"

"You're lying." I glared at him. "From the beginning and now too." I know my mom, I've been to her office, her workplace, her old house, there was nothing related to criminal activity that Percy was talking about. She had a life; her intelligence was only for the benefit of the society, building glorious monuments that could've lasted ages. She couldn't even bear to hurt an owl that she have grown a liking to and taken it up as a pet, let alone a person. "If you're trying to cover up what you have done to my mom, just stop it Percy."

"Annabeth, I'm not trying to cover up, if anything I'm trying to uncover something."

"Why are you even trying to tell me this Percy? Isn't it better to just avoid me?" I asked him. "I found out. That's it. End of story. You don't need to make up some fake story-"

"You asked me for the truth."

"And I want the truth, not some fake story you came up just an hour ago!"

"I'm not making up some fake story, this is because I still like you-"

"Like me? You're funny Percy, we all know the only reason you 'liked' me was because of my mother."

Percy winced, "Really you think that's why I liked you? Because of guilt?"

"Can you just stop it? Enough with the nice guy act. It was pretty obvious that the only reason you were willing to let me stay at your house after finding out that I lied to you was because of my mother death."

"I swear I didn't even know about your mother until recently-"

"Percy, our whole relationship was built on lies. A relationship built on lies… it's just never going to work out."

"What do you mean?"

"If it's a lie that started this, I guess a lie is the only way to end it." I said hesitantly. "In case you haven't noticed Percy, I never liked you at all. You were pretty much the only person that could help me stay here to study."

I could tell that Percy was getting irritated and he knows that I was trying to irritate him on purpose, but it seems like he couldn't help himself. "All this time, I was just your little money bag to your studies?"

"I warned you that I'm just using you. You knew it. I knew it, yet you insisted that I stayed."

Percy's anger flared, "Well perhaps I thought of you as someone that was more than a stranger and I thought you felt the same way. Even before then I thought of you as a friend, and as a friend I would do that for anyone."

"Well, you're wrong. Everything from before was a lie, it was only a matter of time before you find out."

If it was the normal Percy I knew he would've argued and argued, but it seems like he had something else on his mind because the next thing I know he took a deep breath and leveled his voice. "You wanted a place to stay and continue your studies, you got it."

"What do you mean?" I opened the palms of my hand to see what he gave me.

A key.

I stared up at him confused, "Your house key."

"You're still going to be staying here to finish your studies." He said with finality. "I don't really care if our friendship was built on lies, but if my dad still thinks that his daughter is studying New York, I think we'll keep it that way." I was about to argue when Percy continued, "You're using me for your studies so you might as well just keep up that act all the way till the end or else you could go in jail for fraud."

"You know… if I didn't know any better, I would've thought you were blackmailing me."

Percy glared at the ground, "Maybe if you had really known me you wouldn't be saying that." He said mostly to himself.

My hand subconsciously reached out towards him, but I pulled it back before his head shot up. "Since I was honest with you, you have to answer me two things."

I hesitated, "What?"

"Did you really believe that I only liked you out of guilt?"

I didn't answer. If anything that's the question I'm asking myself all the time. Did I really believe that?

Percy's eyes were scanning my face as if trying to decipher anything. He sighed, "I guess that answers it."

"What's the second question?" I asked hoping to avoid the first topic completely.

"Did you actually love me?"

Again silence.

'Our relationship started with a lie and it's going to end that way.' I thought in my head

"I hate you." I said after a while.

"Honestly?"

I stared straight at him, hoping that my face didn't express any emotion. "I don't lie." I am lying. "And I wouldn't be wasting my lies on you." I wanted to smack myself.

"Oh really now? If I remembered correctly you used so many lies on me." Percy's voice oozed with anger.

"Well if you even took notice, I lied for myself, so I could study here-"

"Go ahead and keep insisting that Annabeth." He took a step closer. "But I know that you did like me."

I scoffed, "You can't force people to like you."

"And you can't force yourself to not like someone." Percy shot back almost immediately.

"I am not forcing-"

Percy didn't even let me finished before he kissed me. For a split second I forgot that I was mad at him and returned the kiss almost as if my brain was hardwired to kiss him back. Thankfully I still had some sense somewhere in the back of my head. I pushed him away.

"What are you doing?!"

"Why would you kiss me back if you didn't like me?!" Percy growled his hand slamming on the wall right next to him.

"You didn't even give me a chance to back away from you!" I glared at him with equal intensity.

Percy took a step closer. "Would this be enough of a warning that I'm going to kiss you?"

I tried to move, but my damn brain is just not responding to anything at the moment.

I wanted to smack myself ten million times over and over until I could get out of this so-called trance. I began to notice every single detail around me. Everything but the person right in front of me. The ship rocked smoothly back and forth. I could almost hear the waves hitting the bottom stern. Compared to the usual night, the air was much cooler, calmer, but at the same time dangerous… almost like… almost like Percy. His eyes scanned over my face, still trying to detect any emotions. His hair is still messy as usual, but it seems almost appealing to the eye at this moment.

He took one more step closer. Now he was barely a few inches away from me. If I was to flip my hair, it would slap him across the face… actually that might not be a bad idea, unfortunately, it seems like my mind and body is acting on different levels right now.

I tried to take a step back, but I was just frozen, almost as if his presence paralyzed me. "You're not backing away." He noticed as he leaned in a bit.

"I'm not scared of you." I retorted back almost immediately. Well at least I could still talk.

"Of course you're not."

'I'm definitely scared of you.' I wanted to say. Percy made me afraid, not the I'm afraid he's going to hurt me, but more of the I'm afraid what I would do when he's around, or what I would do when he's not around. Contradicting much? Yeah welcome to my head.

"You want to kiss me as much as I wanted to kiss you." He pointed out, I could almost feel his lips on mine.

I glared at him, "There is no way I would want to kiss someone I don't love."

"Of course, you only kiss people that you love." Percy stated matter-of-factly.

He closed the gap between us once again. This time he leaned in slow enough so that I could push him away, but for some reason I didn't register the fact. It was unfortunate to say that I did enjoy the kiss. I felt Percy deepening the kiss as his arms began to wrap around my waist, but again I did nothing to stop it. Instead I let my hand travel around his neck as we were wrapped in a tighter embrace. Within seconds, I lost all sense and logic, and with the way Percy was acting, I had a feeling that he was as brain dead as me.

I felt Percy kissed me, without hesitation, lovingly, passionately.

"He really did love you Annabeth." Thalia had said.

I returned the kiss.

So I watched Sea of Monsters today! one words… AWESOME! If not comparing to the book. I'm not going to do any spoilers but all I'm going to say is, I'm tired of the rants on tumblr about how bad the movie was cause honestly it's not that bad. Plus the actors and actress definitely are amazing… dude Thalia is just… words can't describe how perfect she was… So for 1 hour and 46 minutes just forget about the book and you'll enjoy the movie a bit more :)

Oh yeah, I heard somewhere that there's going to be a short story on Lord Apollo, Percy and Grover right?

Again sorry for not updating, but I need posted up a Percabeth Fluff One-shot to make up for this :) Check it out and tell me what you think?

Agent Astro Zombie