TW – Swearing, two people in an argument

WE WERE ONCE CHILDREN – When we still had each other

"How many times have I died for you, my lady? And you still question my loyalty?" The words were spat at her, eyes flashing. He seethed silently, his glare intense enough to burn through the iron bars that separated them. He sat on the grimy floor of the cell, leaning his back against the wall, rubbing his thumb across his forearm almost methodically.

"You are the enemy of the public." Annabeth replied coldly, turning her head a fraction to glance down at the man. "Therefore, you are my enemy."

"I have died for you! I have laid my life before yours, and you believe that I am your enemy?" He didn't shout or even scream at her, but whispered furiously instead, hatred laced in his voice. A part of her wished he would raise his voice; it would be easier to hate him for it.

She locked eyes and raised an eyebrow, "You betrayed my people. I have no reason to trust you, and I certainly do not need to do so."

"I betrayed you?" In an instant, he pushed himself off the ground and clutched at the bars. "I would never think to betray you! Don't you fucking dare accuse me of committing such treason. You never gave me the chance to explain myself, to defend my name, yet you happily believed whatever the Queen whispered in your ear."

"You admitted that you were the spy," she cut in sharply, grey eyes narrowing. "Cease this nonsense immediately. You know nothing-"

"You were going to have an innocent person executed for something they never did." He let out a harsh laugh, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to rise. "You were once so wise. Oh how the mighty have fallen! You are blinded by the lies."

Annabeth gave a tight smile and her hand inched towards her hip. Her eyes flickered to the white scar running across his neck. That wasn't there the last time she saw him. The last time she had seen him… She swallowed back the bitter taste. It was too long ago. "I was naïve, Percy. I know better now."

His green eyes focused on the hand movement, "Do it." He growled out, clenching his teeth. "Go on, kill me. See if I care." He spread out his arms, gesturing her to stab him, and to finish him. "It won't be the first time you've done it. Kill me again, my lady. Make them happy."

"Shut up," she hissed. "You don't understand." The silver blade was aimed directly at his neck.

"Then make me understand. God dammit!" He slammed his fist against the iron bars angrily. "I'm so tired of this Annabeth! Stop feeling so damn sorry for yourself, and act like the warrior you are. You need to open your eyes. You aren't the only one that's hurting."

"I am trying!" she snarled back, "But the people want you dead. They believe you to be responsible for the war, especially now that you claimed to be the traitor."

"Did you even know who they were about to have murdered?" Percy suddenly yelled at her. His voice shook as he glared daggers, "Tell me the name of the woman you were about to have killed. Say it. Tell me her fucking name Annabeth."

Taken aback, her arm dropped back to her side, stumbling over her words, trying to come up with an answer. "I… I don't…"

His eyes widened, and he jerked backwards, suddenly repulsed by her presence. His voice hardened as he hissed out words, "Get. Out."

"They never told me-"

"You were going to execute someone, and you didn't know their name. You were going to murder a woman and you didn't know her fucking name!"

"They refused to tell me who the traitor was!"

"Don't call her a fucking traitor, if you wish to keep your tongue." He threatened lowly, "I advise you to go, my lady, before I decide to kill you myself."

She sucked in a breath angrily and stepped back, gripping the knife tightly, "The Queen herself forbade anyone to tell me. I didn't think it mattered, since she obviously was the…" She swallowed thickly, sensing his glare, and continued carefully, "Everyone was convinced this person was the one who committed the crime, so I didn't question it."

Percy gritted his teeth and pulled at his hair, turning his back to her. He rested his head against the wall, his fist clenching at his side. "I don't give a shit about your justification or apology. I did what I could to save her, and only for her." He took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself and ran his scarred hand along the jagged bricks.

"I'm sorry."

"Just go, Annabeth. Leave me alone."

"Percy. Listen to me-"

He whirled around, stalking forward until his forehead was pressed up against the cold bars of the cell. "No. You listen to me. There was a time." He hissed furiously, eyes ablaze. "There was a time when I would have left the whole world for you. I would have fought the world for you." He shook with supressed rage. "I went through Hell to get here, yet you're the one that changed! I don't even know you anymore. You aren't the person I left behind. You aren't the person I cared too much about."

"Don't lie to me!" Annabeth cried back, choking back a sob. "You never cared. If you had, you wouldn't have left. You left my world, Percy. You left me!"

"I had no choice!" He slammed his fist against the corroded metal, ignoring the trickling blood. "I tried, Annabeth. I tried so hard to come back! Believe me. More than anything else in the world, I wanted to come back. But I couldn't leave! Do you honestly think I wanted to leave you?"

She brushed at the tears that fell from her eyes, "I don't know! I don't know anymore." She took a shaky breath, "I waited for you. Do you know how long I waited for you to come home? Do you know how long we searched for? I was so scared, Percy. Your blood was all over that horse. People were convinced you were dead." She twisted the ring on her finger in agitation, "We spent weeks, Percy. Weeks. Even months! I was terrified that we would find you dead-"

"But you didn't! You didn't find me! I was in hell, and you didn't come!" He screamed at her, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the bars tightly, seething. "I begged every goddamn night for you to find me, alright Annabeth? I prayed to every fucking god that I knew of, in hopes that someone would actually come and save me. But no one came. You never came."

Her mind whirled at the new information, creating connections and dismissing old theories. Annabeth's face became pale. Sometimes she hated how quick her mind was. "Don't tell me… Don't tell me you were there."

He dropped his head to glare at the ground, his black hair falling to cover his face, and let out a dry laugh. "I wanted to come back, but my desires didn't matter. It didn't mater whether I wanted to come home or not, Annabeth. I physically couldn't. I physically couldn't come back." His body shook as he chuckled silently.

She stepped closer, her knife cluttering to the ground as she reached out to cup his cheeks in her hands. "This isn't funny. Look at me, Percy. Look at me! Tell me it isn't true." The moment her fingers made contact with his skin, he flinched, and he jerked back to look at her, still supressing his laughter.

Annabeth blinked.

Percy wasn't laughing.

He was crying.

"You were there… weren't you…" It wasn't much of a question, but she needed to know the truth. She just didn't want her suspicions to be correct.

He stared at her through his tears, and bitterly muttered "Why would that matter? You never cared."

She sucked in a breath, horror settling in her stomach. "How long? Percy, answer me. How long were you there for?"

He gave her a tired smirk, but all she could see was the haunted look in his eyes. "I don't know." His voice was impossibly soft, cracking with emotion. "But it was too long, Annabeth."

"Percy…" She felt sick. No one deserved to go through that. Especially Percy. Her sweet, beautiful Percy didn't deserve to go through that hell. She reached through the bars again and faltered slightly at the guarded look he gave as he regarded her outstretched hand, so instead, she let her hand fall, loosely clutching at the bar. "Percy… I'm so sorry… You should never have gone through that. I would have come if I had known."

"You didn't know." He murmured. He shook his head and wrapped his arms around himself protectively, his nails digging into his skin at random intervals. His eyes were glazed over. "You didn't know. It's fine. Don't worry about it."

"No. It's not okay. I should have saved you. I should have come-"

"Lady Chase. You have a visitor asking for an audience." A gruff voice called from afar, interrupting them.

Annabeth closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her composure shifting back to the regal stance, and replied curtly, "I will be there momentarily. Please ensure our guest is comfortable." She opened her eyes again, glancing at the man in front of her. Oh how much he had changed. She could barely recognise the childhood friend within this broken man. "I have to go, Percy. But I will be back."

Percy ran his fingers through his black hair and smiled tiredly. "Just go, Annabeth."

A conflicted look crossed her face until she felt something touch her. She looked down to find a trembling hand brush against her own. Carefully, she linked her little finger with his, and in that moment, her breath caught in her throat, and her lungs tightened. How long had it been since either of them touched each other? It had to have been years. It was so long ago. She could faintly remember the very last time she touched him. He was sitting up on his horse, with a silly grin etched on his face. He had said something stupid, and she had swatted his leg as they both shared a laugh. He waved as he bid her farewell. He had promised to come back soon and she had believed him then.

But he never came home.

She shook herself out of her memories and looked at him, drinking in his features. "I'll be back." She said in a whisper, their intertwined tightening at her promise, "It's going to be okay."

"I know." He mumbled. "Go, Annabeth. I won't disappear just yet."

With an unreadable expression on her face, Annabeth stepped back from him, and let their interlocked pinkies unravel, their arms falling limply by their sides. They memorised the other's face before giving each other a tight smile and a nod, a sign of grim acceptance. She took a deep breath and turned around and walked back out towards the light, pausing only to collect her discarded knife. She straightened out the circlet on her head as she left the prison, without so much as a backwards glance.

AN – Hello again. It's been a while since I wrote anything, but I found this half-finished on my computer, so I decided to polish it. It did spiral out of control, but I hope it was fun to read. It definitely was fun to write. I'm thinking of writing another part to this (We Were Once Children), so look forward to that.

If anyone has any suggestions or prompts, please feel free to leave them in the comments. And if there are any mistakes, please let me know, and I'll fix that up.

Until next time, stay safe.