Chapter Six

Annabeth

I really wanted to see Percy. It had been a day since the arena meeting, and despite what we said, we hadn't 'seen each other around.' I was too cowardly, I guess. My bold attitude apparently only presented itself because I was defending my pride. It didn't help that Percy didn't make a move to talk to me either. Well, I might not have given him a chance.

I hung out with Thalia during my free time because I missed her. It was not partly because I was avoiding Percy. And at meals I sat at the Athena table, obviously, like now at breakfast. He sat at the Hermes table, obviously. He still hadn't been claimed.

But tonight was capture the flag. The Athena cabin had made an alliance with the Apollo, Zeus, and, most importantly, Hermes cabins. The opposition had Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. I was determined to talk to Percy tonight. Maybe sooner, if possible.

That possibility arose. I was walking to my cabin to get a book when I saw Percy walking across the grass area inside the cabins. Steeling myself, I walked up to him.

"Hey," I greeted him. He looked surprised to see me.

"Hi Annabeth," he replied. Did he sound happy? I hope he did.

"So, you ready for capture the flag tonight?" Anything to make conversation.

"Oh, yeah. Um," he rubbed the back of his head. "How exactly do you play?" I laughed.

"Well, it's just like regular capture the flag, but instead of tagging people out, you play defense and offense with real weapons and magic items."

"Ok. Magic items? Do I get any?" He seemed excited, but I couldn't forget that he was in the god of thieves' cabin. My hand flew to my back pocket where I kept my magical invisibility hat. I felt the lump of my hat. Phew, it was still there.

"No, I don't have magical items for you. You'd have to get one from a store or your godly parent." He cringed, and I regretted what I said. He still didn't know who his godly parental unit was.

"Oh. Ok. Look, I should go, I'll see you tonight, I guess." He rubbed the back of his neck again, looking tense.

"Ok, I guess I'll see you," I tried to keep the disappointment out of my voice. As he started to walk away, I called him back. "Wait, Percy!" He turned around, looking at me expectantly, but slightly wary too. "I'm sorry," I continued softly. "I think I know how you feel."

He turned fully around, eyes blazing. The change was so sudden it was slightly scary.

"'Know how I feel'?" he started. "How could you? At least you know who both your parents are. You weren't left with a horrible step-father, or now know that some godly being willingly left your parent at the mercy of some jerk. You probably would never run away from your family, only to need to return to find your step-dad hitting your own mother. You probably understand how some god could leave their family. Hm? Don't you?" He looked at me, still angry, but the fire inside him was dying.

I started to feel angry. He probably needed to vent, but why did he have to yell at me? There was no reason. I opened my mouth to yell back, but fell silent. A little image of a seven year old me popped into my mind.

"How could you? I thought you were my new family, but you will probably leave me like my other parents. You'll leave me even though you know that I need you, that I trusted you, that I could never leave you." I was hysterical. I was distraught that Thalia was hurt and that Luke had suggested hiding me while he took her to a place to stitch her up. He didn't want me to go. It was because they wanted to ditch me, I was sure.

"No, no, Annabeth! That's not it at all!" Luke tried to console me. "We would never leave you. We were trying to protect you!"

"No, there you go. You're making excuses to make me think you care about me. Just like Daddy and Susan." I was crying now, backing away from Luke and Thalia, my once-family. Just like I backed away from my real family, I thought.

"No, Annabeth, don't go! We need you, we do care about you!" Thalia insisted.

"Well, fine then. But who will be the first to leave? You or Luke? One of you will leave. Leave us alone. Leave me to the spiders." I was focused on Thalia, but I still noticed Luke backing into the trees to the side of our make-shift camp.

"See! There he goes! Leaving us behind!" I screeched, pointing at Luke. The look on Thalia's face was utter dismay and disbelief.

"Luke, where are you going?" Thalia cried. She tried to get up, but her injured leg prevented her. No. This couldn't actually be happening. I thought Luke would stay with me forever. He promised. I turned, running into the woods, sobbing. I was suddenly caught up in arms.

I kicked and screamed, trying to get away, to get to my dagger. It was no good. My enemy was the strongest in the world, strong like Luke. Luke. I sniffed again.

"Shh, Annie, it's ok. I'd never leave you. I promised," the enemy's voice was Luke's. I sobbed harder. Luke was my enemy now, wasn't he? He abandoned my like my real mommy.

"Sh, Annabeth. You're my family. I'll never give up on family. Ever," the voice was Luke's. I turned my head and caught sight of him. I gasped, then snuggled closer, still crying. He and Thalia the put me in my sleeping bag. Before they left, though, I grabbed their shirts.

"Don't ever leave me," I whispered. "Promise me."

"I'll never leave you, Annabeth," Luke whispered.

"Neither will I," Thalia added.

"We promise," they swore together.

~o0o~

Thalia and Luke didn't deserve to be yelled at. They weren't actually going to leave me. And while my seven year old self didn't make a whole lot of sense, at the core I was feeling what Percy was feeling. Betrayed, abandoned, alone.

So I didn't yell at him.

"Percy, you're not alone," I started softly. "I didn't know my mother was Athena until I was eight. My dad didn't want to raise me. He asked Athena to raise me on Olympus. My dad remarried to a woman who blamed me for endangering her children. She wouldn't believe me when I said that spiders attacked me, or that the monsters tried to kill me. I ran away when I was seven." I paused, letting that sink in. "I never returned, not once. They never asked me to. Was there abuse? No. But they didn't want me. They were happy alone with their new family. I didn't even go home once until I was twelve. Ran away again after that. I went back though. I will never give up on family. Ever."

Percy stared at me, mouth slightly open. I wasn't done though. "So don't you ever give up. Never. Gods are not the best parents. But they're still our parents. We're all related somehow. All of us here." I gestured around at the cabins. "All of our parents were left alone at some point. But we've never given up. We're still a family. So don't you ever give up on family. Ever."

A/N: Thank you so much to all your wonderful reviews! 11! Yeah! Your support and feedback really made my heart soar. Thanks for suggestions.

I'm sorry, too, because I wanted to update sooner but I'm kind of having a writer's block for this part of the story. It needs to happen, but I'm not super inspired to write it.

Also, I hope you like my reason why Luke never became a traitor. Quite emotional and spur of the moment, again.

So thank you soooooooooooooo much! Please review!