A Pyrrhic Victory

by yellowhellow

Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase were the best of friends. Practically inseparable. That is, until the day of the concert. After that, Percy starts sporting mysterious injuries and pushing everyone he loves away until one day he disappears from the lives of everyone he holds dear to him with no explanation, only to return four years later, a different person. AU. Percabeth.

13. Ignorance

LONG TIME NO UPDATE, RIGHT? YOU'RE PROBABLY MAD. EXCUSES ARE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE CHAPTER SO...YAH. I ATE POSOLE SO I'M IN A GOOD MOOD.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THIS BESIDES THE PLOT. ALL THAT OTHER STUFF BELONGS TO RICK RIORDAN/MR. RIORDAN/UNCLE RICK/TROLL RICK/SASSMASTER RICK/THE-TORMENTOR-OF-FANGIRLS-RIORDAN.

"When I was five years old,

my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life.

When I went to school,

they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up.

I wrote down 'happy'.

They told me I didn't understand the assignment,

and I told them that they didn't understand life."

-John Lennon

ANNABETH'S POV-

My view of Percy was blocked by Nico who jumped up from his seat in a manner that made him seem like he had been shocked by a bolt of lightning.

"Nico, get your butt back onto that chair!" Thalia hissed. Apparently she wasn't too keen on having him causing a scene.

"Your classmate is right Mr. Di Angelo," Mr. Butch replied," there is no need to get up. Unless you have a question for Jackson here?"

"I only have one." Nico tilted his head in Percy's direction. "What made you decide to come crawling back?"

"Alright Di Angelo, I think it'd be best if you just sat down and-"

"Shh!" Mr. Butch silenced Mr. Boring. "Don't interrupt! I missed my soap opera yesterday and this might make up for it!"

Despite the obvious tension, almost half the class threw strange looks at Mr. Butch.

Percy just stood there without responding. His hair resembled ink, covering his eyes and all emotion that he might have conveyed.

"You promised I'd never have to see you again." Nico took a few slow steps towards Percy. "You haven't stooped so low as to turn into a traitor and liar, have you?"

"You have no idea what you're saying." A shiver ran down my spine at the frigidity of Percy's response.

Nico seemed unfazed, his anger eliminating any sense of fear he might feel deep down. "Really? Just like you had no idea that Bianca was behind that tree?"

It was my turn to butt in. I reached forward and tried to pull Nico back down into his seat, but he shrugged me away easily.

"You don't have to try and get me to calm down anymore," Nico said, "I'm done here."

Nico sent one final glare at Percy, before storming out of the room.

The class was quiet for about thirty seconds until Mr. Butch decided to speak up. "Thalia, would you be so kind as to go after your very angsty cousin for us?"

Thalia nodded her head curtly and walked out of class without so much as a glance in Percy's direction, although I'm willing to bet that she would've gone after Nico even without Mr. Butch's permission.

"Okay then," Mr. Boring clasped his hands, "any other questions for our new student?"

All hands went up, or at least most of them. I wasn't included.

My questioning would come later.

LOGANLERMANLOGANLERMANISHOTLOGANLERMAN

PERCY'S POV-THREE DAYS LATER-

"Good morning Perce!"

I jumped at the unexpected sound of Grover's voice behind me and spun on my heel. I scanned the room for any sign of life, but saw nothing except for the almost empty interior of my drafty temporary apartment.

"Grover," I asked." Where are you?"

"Over here! In your laptop screen!"

I made my way over to my living room desk and looked at my screen. Instead of my usual wallpaper of the ocean, I saw Grover's cheerful face smiling out at me from his dorm in half-blood alley.

"Are you skyping me?" I didn't know that Olympians were even capable of doing anything as normal as skyping.

"Sort of. This is like a modified version of it." Grover replied.

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's protected so that no one can eavesdrop into our conversation and only Olympians can use it. Awesome right? It's called iris messaging!"

"Yeah it's cool and all but….don't I have to accept a request for us to be able to video chat?"

"Nope. I can just activate your camera and bam!" Grover grabbed a carrot stick and started chewing as if having the power to spy on me was no big deal.

"So I can walk in here naked and be caught on video?" The thought disturbed me.

Grover nodded. "I'd prefer it if you didn't do that though. We're close and all, but not that close."

I carried my laptop over to the kitchen counter so that I would be able to make breakfast and talk to Grover at the same time. "Is there any other freaky invasion of privacy you'd like to tell me about?"

"Hey! I'm just checking your progress!" Grover said indignantly. "It's not like I can call you. The Army can track that."

I rolled my eyes and grabbed my for-once-not-blue plate of pancakes. A sad sight in my opinion, but I didn't have time to get any blue food coloring from the store.

"So how's life in the real world?" Grover questioned.

"Weird." I drowned my breakfast in maple syrup. "Homework sucks and I'm avoiding everyone, but other than that it's freaky to not have to stab at people with deadly weapons."

"You should take the chance to be with them while you can." Grover said. "You might even be able to fix things with Nico if you try."

I knew that by them Grover meant all the people I left behind when I joined the Olympians; Tyson, my mom, Nico, Thalia, and especially…

"What about Annabeth?" Grover asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Ever since I told Grover about the small crush I used to have on Annabeth when I was twelve, he's been insisting that I try to "woo her".

"Aww come on man!" I stabbed my pancakes viciously in an attempt to hide my embarrassment. "You're not going to start up on that Percabeth stuff again are you?"

"It's a legit thing!" Grover shot back. "Even Silena says so and she only supports serious ships!"

"Okay first off, you hang out with Silena way too much and second of all," I put down my pancakes and made a "what" gesture with my arms for emphasis, "what the hell is a ship?"

Grover looked at me with a face that clearly meant he thought I was an idiot. "For your information, Silena is really good with couple advice and how could you not know what a ship is? It's obviously short for relationship! Get it together Percy! That's only fandom 101!"

"Oh my bad! I should've pain more attention in that non-existent fangirl class." I said sarcastically. "All joking aside though, that was a long time ago and she probably hates me right now. They all do. So let's just talk about something else and forget about this, alright?"

"If you say so…."

I lifted my orange juice and started gulping it down.

"I wonder if she's still dating that Leo guy?" Grover said off-handedly.

The noise of shattering glass bounced throughout the house. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

I leaned down with a random rag and started to clean up the mess of orange juice and glass Grover had caused with his comment.

"Percy, I know you've been sneaking out to visit your mom for the past three months. I'm the one that gave Argus permission to let you do it." Grover smiled. "You should also know that there are video cameras hidden all over the city and that I'm in charge of them."

I dumped the trash into a plastic bag as slowly as I possibly could to avoid looking Grover in the eye. "So what, you've been spying on me?"

"Not at all! I was only making sure that there was no one following you." Grover paused for a bit. "Except for that night when Annabeth visited to drop off Tyson's birthday present. I'll admit that at that time I really was spying on you and I've got to say that the reaction you had when you realized that Annabeth had a dating life was quite something."

I'd never felt more grateful about the poker-face classes we had been given as part of training than at this moment. If I didn't know how to hide my emotions, my face would probably have been the color of a ripe tomato. Thankfully that wasn't the case and I managed to suppress blushing. "What'd you expect? I was caught of guard. My reaction was from surprise, but that's it."

Grover expected his fingernails. "Really? Because to me you seemed a bit more green-eyed than usual when Annabeth brought up her Leo guy, if you catch my drift."

"What do you mean by that?" I glared at Grover even though I wasn't really mad at him. I was mostly too focused on trying to calm my racing heart.

"I always have to be blunt with you, don't I Percy?" Grover shook his head in annoyance.

"Huh?" I still didn't get where Grover was going with this.

Grover pinched the bridge of his nose. "You're jealous."

"Of what?" I asked.

"Of Annabeth!" Grover threw his arms into the air. "You're jealous of Annabeth dating Leo! Gosh Percy! As Malcolm would say, ""you are an ignoramus""!"

"How'd you-?"

Grover interrupted me before I could get any further in my questioning. "Don't go into defensive mode, Percy. We both know you like Annabeth more than you'd like to admit. Just don't say I didn't warn you when you finish this mission and are left regretting not making an effort with her or anyone else."

"Why should I? Do you want me to get close to them again only to have to leave afterwards for the second time? I don't want to hurt my friends and family like that!" My friend was starting to get on my nerves and it showed in my irritated tone.

"No Perce, you don't want to hurt yourself." Grover spoke more serious than I've ever heard him since we met. "But what you don't realize is that you're already doing it. You can avoid people all you want, but you can never truly avoid life."

I stood stunned to silence in my kitchen, clutching at my counter in an effort to keep my mind from going haywire.

"Man, I've got to go." Grover grabbed his badge and got up. "Just keep in mind that you'll be leaving behind your biggest 'what if'."

With those as his last words, Grover shut down the iris message, leaving a black spot on more than my computer.

LET'SFASTFORWARDTHISDAMCHAPTER

I would love to say that I had a great day after my little encounter with Grover, but then I'd just be lying to myself.

Everything was going okay up until third period when it happened. That is to say, our teacher gave us the worst possible classroom assignment he could've ever thought up.

You see, I kind of sabotaged my timetable. Originally I had been put into a "special" class for people who had problems with English, but when I saw that Paul Blofis worked here I had it done for me that I was switched to his class instead. By Grover, not the school.

I did it so that I'd be able to keep an eye on the man who was supposedly dating my mom and so far I thought he was a pretty nice guy. He let us make jokes in his class (yes, even the dirty ones) and he tried his best to spice things up a bit. I actually kind of liked his class. At least, I did. What he had us do in class today made me have second-guesses.

"Everybody quiet down for a bit!" Mr. Blofis said.

The room went so silent that a slamming locker could be heard from a hall away. Mr. Blofis leaned forward on his desk, looking each and every one of us in the eye.

"I have to ask you all a very important question." Mr. Blofis's voice was low and taciturn. We waited for what he had to say in anticipation. "Answer me honestly. Who here would rather be anywhere else but in an English class? Raise your hands."

Not one hand was left down. Thalia's was the first one up and Nico wasn't here to add his to the group. Both him and Annabeth were in the honor's class.

"Hands down." Mr. Blofis didn't seem bothered by our dislike of his subject. "Now raise your hand if you would rather spend the rest of this class period talking to a friend."

The same things that happened before, happened again.

"Okay then." Mr. Blofis stood back to his full height and clasped his hands together. "That's what we're going to do. I am going to give you each a partner and you are going to talk for the rest for the rest of the class. Who ever manages to keep the conversation going until the end of this period gets extra credit."

People started whispering excitingly to each other.

"Wait! There is a catch." Mr. Blofis gave us all a devious smile. "Your partner will be chosen for a specific reason that does not include being your friend. When I feel that you are all ready, I will tell you what that reason is. This is a small test I am giving you on your social skills and I'm hoping that by the end of the year you may all be able to keep a conversation interesting because this does affect your public speaking. You should also know that this is someone you will be working with for the rest of the year."

I slouched a bit in my desk and started to doodle on my English notebook. It didn't really matter what partner I got because it'd probably be someone I didn't even know or who didn't remember me. I waited for Mr. Blofis to say whom I was with unenthusiastically. I blanked out for a few minutes and started to pay attention right when he said my name.

"Piper and Drew Mclean." Mr. Blofis said, ignoring the two sister's cry of outrage. "Percy Jackson will be partnered with Thalia Grace."

"NO!" Both Thalia and I shot up from our seats and glared at each other for saying it at the same time.

"I will not be partnered with him!" Thalia said, jabbing in my general direction with the phone she'd been previously using to text during class. "I'd rather be stuck with Drew than work together with Percy!"

"Hey!" Drew yelled indignantly from the back of the class.

"Look who's talking!" I growled. "You're the one always strutting around like you own the place!"

"Oh yeah? What about you?" Thalia flapped her hands around and made her voice deep in an attempted impression of me. "I'm Percy and I act all dark and mysterious when I'm really just some-"

"Thalia!" Mr. Blofis gave us both a scolding look. "Neither of you can change partners. You get who you get and accept it."

"Fine." I sat down calmly in my seat, secretly seething on the inside.

Thalia sent Mr. Blofis a death glare, but followed my lead nevertheless although she appeared nowhere near as okay with her partnership as I did.

"Now that we're settled, let's start with moving to sit next to our partner's. I want everyone to move their desks so that they are in contact with who ever it is they got." Mr. Blofis said. "Whiners will be ignored so you might as well go with it."

Thalia's desk screeched as she moved it next to where I sat. She smashed her desk so that it touched mine, narrowly missing my fingers.

When everyone was done, Paul spoke. "There you go. For the rest of the class period I want you to talk to your partner about whatever it is you feel like talking about. I don't mind as long as you learn at least five things about them. Your homework assignment will be to write the five things down. You have to be a good listener to do this though so make sure to keep your ears alert. You may start now."

The classroom broke into a chorus of murmurs and insults.

THALIA'S POV-

"So I guess we're forced to talk now, huh?" I started. "Sucks for you because now you don't have an excuse to avoid me."

I analyzed Percy for any reaction, but he just kept that stupid little mask of his on and shrugged.

I faced him head on in a burst of anger. "You do know that this assignment requires two people to participate? That means you have to say something and quit sitting there like some fucking rock. If I can do it then so can you."

Percy cast a glance at me from the corner of his eye, refusing to let me see his face, which was covered by his mop of hair. "I see you've gone punk."

"That is beside the point." I narrowed my eyes. "Why have you been avoiding us?"

"Is this some type of interrogation?" Percy asked. "Because I think you need a warrant for that."

I tried to smash my foot onto his, but he moved it out of the way smoothly.

"Thalia, I'm not your play thing anymore. You can't kick someone and expect them to kiss your ass." I was finally face-to-face with Percy and I didn't like what I saw. Sure he was more attractive, but that didn't make his eyes any less cold or his words any less bitter. "I learned long ago that I'm not a punching bag and I'm sure as hell not here to serve you."

"I don't want to be served." I sneered. "What I want is for you to quick putting up this act because it doesn't work on you. You were always annoying, but at least it was endearing back then. Now you're just down-right irritating."

"Why? Because I don't go out of my way to please queen Thalia?" Percy crossed his arms. "Well sorry because that's never going to change."

I felt my heart rate increase and I clenched my fists. The little shit was doing it on purpose. He knew that I hated it when people assumed I was some spoiled brat and yet here he was doing it himself for the pleasure of seeing me explode. Using the things I disliked against me was a new low for even him, but two could play at that game.

"You're right, some things never change and I'm assuming that's the reason you ditched us right? You were too chicken to face life and decided that it'd be easier to run away." Percy tensed like I knew he would. At least he still hated to be referred to as a coward. "I wonder what your mom said when you begged her to let you live with them again. She was probably too kind-hearted to tell you to take a dump and leave, but I know better. She must've secretly wanted you to get out of her life again. You're just a bother after all."

To my surprise, Percy didn't seem affected by my insults at all. His face was the picture of passiveness and that only made me more livid. All these years spent crying for him, waiting for the idiot to return, and watching my best friend dying on the inside at the loss of her seaweed brain were for nothing. All those tears were wasted on some hollow, inhumane being with no regret who didn't even bother to explain himself.

"Is this supposed to be going somewhere or...what?" Percy said in a bored voice.

"You disgust me." I got up from my desk and stared him down. "Now I know why Nico walked away from you. You're not even worth the fight. Annabeth will be disappointed when she finds out that all her waiting was just A Pyrrhic Victory because let's face it. You're no trophy."

I heard the bell ringing in the background and I grabbed my backpack.

"You don't know how right you are." I was taken aback at how genuine Percy's voice sounded. He walked toward the door, but not before I could tell him one final thing.

"Annabeth wanted me to ask if you wanted to meet her at our old spot at the tree tomorrow afterschool." I said. "I wasn't going to, but I will since I promised. She'll find out for herself if you're still the Percy she once knew."

I didn't expect Percy to reply, but he stopped and stood there for a moment. "Tell her," he paused," that I said yes."

And then he walked out,

Unpredictable as the ocean.

WAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKACACAKAKAKAKA

CHAPTER NOTE- SO HOW WAS THE CHAPTER? DID YOU CATCH THE PERCY JACKSON BOOK REFERENCES? I WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK PEOPLE! ALL AUTHORS NOTE STUFF IS SEPARATED INTO LITTLE CAPTIONS IF YOU ONLY WANT TO SEE CERTAIN THINGS. ALSO. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE FOLLOWS/FAVORITES/ REVIEWS! I DIDN'T NOTICE HOW MANY I GOT UNTIL A FEW DAYS AGO AND I WAS SO HAPPY! GIVE YOURSELVES A PAT ON THE BACK FOR BEING AWESOME!

RANDOM QUESTION- DO YOU EVER TELL TIME USING SONGS? LIKE IF SOMEONE ASKS YOU HOW LONG A CAR RIDE TOOK YOU, INSTEAD OF SAYING TWELVE MINUTES YOU SAY FOUR SONGS? I DO THAT SO I'M JUST WONDERING IF ANYONE ELSE DOES.

AWESOME STORY RECOMMENDATION- THERE'S THIS REALLY FUNNY/AWESOME/WELL-PACED STORY I READ A WHILE AGO CALLED "My Gay Best Friend" I WANTED TO SHARE IT WITH YOU GUYS. HERES THE SUMMARY: Annabeth, daughter of a renowned architect, is dealing with both best friend and boyfriend issues. Percy is trying to make his way to the top of the architect business world. Once Percy realizes that connections with Annabeth will secure his position, he poses as a gay man, gaining access to her home and friendship. What he didn't foresee was falling in love with her. IT'S WRITTEN BY Mr. Invisible AND IT'S RATED T!

EXCUSES- I AM FIFTY THOUSAND TIMES SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING! MY REASONS WERE WRITERS BLOCK, BEING SICK FOR A FEW DAYS (IT TURNS OUT THAT I'M SLIGHTLY LACTOSE INTOLERANT), BEING ON A ROAD TRIP, NOT BEING NEAR ANY INTERNET HOTSPOTS, AND HAVING A MESSED UP COMPUTER. HOPEFULLY THESE EXCUSES ARE COUNTED AS GOOD ENOUGH. AM I FORGIVEN? :(

GUEST REVIEW REPLIES-

TO: GUEST WHO SAID ":You made Percy get friend zoned. Come on really": KEEP IN MIND THAT ANNABETH SAID THAT WHEN THEY WERE BOTH ONLY TWELVE. THINGS CHANGE WHEN YOU GROW UP (FEELINGS, MATURITY, HORMONES, ETC) SO HER OPINION OF HIM WILL PROBABLY CHANGE. ALSO...THE TWO MAIN CHARACTER IN THIS STORY ARE PERCY JACKSON AND ANNABETH CHASE *MAJOR HINT!*

TO: GUEST WHO SAID :So I just started reading your story and I think it's awesome! Hopefully you update soon:): I FINALLY UPDATED! YAY? IT'S AWESOME THAT YOU'RE STILL READING AND I HOPE YOU KEEP DOING SO! NEXT CHAPTER IS COMING UP...SOME TIME...I DON'T WANT TO MAKE PROMISES.

TO: GUEST WHO SAID :Update soon: I'M GUESSING THAT YOU ARE THE SAME GUEST AS LAST TIME BASED ON THE SIMILAR PUNCTUATION IN THE BEGINNING SO...I UPDATED!

TO: NotAGuestAnymore: I GET LAZY WHEN I HAVE TO LOG IN TOO :P. I LIKE THE NAME CHOICE THOUGH! YOUR REVIEW ALMOST MADE ME CRY. I'M NOT JOKING WHEN I TYPE THIS. IT WAS SERIOUSLY ONE OF THE NICEST THINGS I'VE EVER READ. YEAH THE CLIFFY SEEMED TO IRK A LOT OF PEOPLE, BUT THERE WON'T REALLY BE A LOT OF ENDINGS LIKE THAT. ALL THE CHAPTERS WILL END DIFFERENTLY. SOME ENDINGS WILL BE EITHER SAD, CONTENT-LIKE, HAPPY, AND LATER ON...FLUFFY :3. EXCLAMATION POINTS ARE MEANT TO BE USED! WITHOUT THEM, EVERYTHING WE TYPE WOULD BE DULL. WATCH: I LIKE MURDERING FLIES. VS. I LIKE MURDERING FLIES! THEY HAVE A DIFFERENT EFFECT...YOU HAVE A VERY SUSPICIOUS COUGH BY THE WAY. MIGHT WANT TO GET IT CHECKED OUT. THANKS FOR THE FOLLOW/FAVORITE!

TO: GUEST WHO SAID :PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE UPDATE!: THE CHAPTER IS HERE!

TO: GUEST WHO SAID: Update! Best story I've ever read.! Keep writing and update quickly!: I'LL TRY, BUT I CAN'T REALLY SAY EXACTLY WHEN THE NEXT CHAPTER IS COMING ANYMORE. MY SCHEDULE WILL BE A BIT HECTIC SINCE I'LL BE STARTING HIGH SCHOOL AS A FRESHMEN AND HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE STUPID PROCESS AND STUFF. I'LL WRITE WHEN I CAN THOUGH SO TRY NOT TO GIVE UP ON ME! THANKS FOR THE COMPLIMENTS! THEY WARM MY HEART :).

TO GUEST WHO SAID: :Please update: ME SHALL TRY. -BAD GRAMMAR ALERT!

TO: No.09: YOU'VE GOT IT DUDE! (FULL HOUSE REFERENCE)

TO GUEST WHO SAID: :Update soon! This is amazing!: YOU'RE AMAZING!

TO GUEST WHO SAID: :Percy's going to get some serious sh*t from Annabeth, Thalia, and Nico isn't he? He has A LOT of explaining to do. I feel bad for him: YOU'VE GOT THAT RIGHT. SO FAR HE'S BEEN CONFRONTED BY NICO AND THALIA, BUT ANNABETH IS UP NEXT. SHE'LL BE MORE PATIENT ABOUT GETTING TO HIM THOUGH SO IT WON'T JUST BE A YELL-FEST. POOR PERCY RIGHT? I THINK HE NEEDS A HUG.

TO: HI: YUP. SHE'LL TRY, BUT NOT SUCCEED DUE TO PERCY BEING TRAINED BY EXPERIENCED FIGHTERS AND ALL. HAHA SUCKS FOR HER. HE'S STAYING IN A CRAPPY APARTMENT CHIRON GOT HIM. NEITHER HIS MOM NOR TYSON KNOWS HE'S BACK AND NO ONE HAS TOLD THEM YET BECAUSE THEY ALL ASSUMED THEY ALREADY KNEW. THANKS! I'LL BREAK A LEG! (FIGURATIVELY, NOT LITERALLY)

TO GUEST WHO SAID :Please update its amazing: THANKS :) I HAVE GIVEN YOU AN UPDATE!

TO GUEST WHO SAID :Plz update: THE CHAPTER IS RIGHT UP THERE. ^

TO GUEST WHO SAID: :Plz update I need to find out what happens next: YOU HAVE NOW FOUND OUT! WOOT WOOT!

TO GUEST WHO SAID: :Thief. your story is awesome!: I AGREE. AND THANKS! GLAD YOU THINK SO!

TO GUEST WHO SAID: :Yupp Another FIC not updated! It's a real shame...: SORRY...

TO GUEST WHO SAID: :Hey could you please make Percy all badass and have combat skills and stuff. Thx and keep up the great work: I'M PLANNING ON DOING THAT. THE ONLY PROBLEM IS THAT I'VE NEVER REALLY WRITTEN ANY ACTIONS SCENE BEFORE SO I'M A BIT SKETCY WHEN IT COMES TO THAT. I'LL TRY THOUGH! I ALREADY HAVE A FEW PARTICULAR GASP-WORTHY SCENES IN MIND. ONE INVOLVES LUKE AND ONE INVOLVES REYNA. THAT'S ALL I'M SAYING :D.