Disclaimer: I do NOT own Percy Jackson.

Shutting her eyes tight, Annabeth tried to ignore the voices coming from the other side of her room.

"Then you go around having affairs with other women!" She heard her mother yell from outside her locked room, her voice higher several octaves.

Taking a deep breath, Annabeth got out of her bed, all hopes of sleeping vanishing.

She walked over to her window, running her hands through her mess of blonde curls she had left open before lying down, three hours ago.

The sky was dark black, almost pitch black. Stars decorated the sky, placed in random areas. Even though it wasn't neat or organized, Annabeth loved how something so unorganized could create such beauty. How you didn't have to be perfect to be beautiful.

She could hear the distant sounds of airplanes even without the window open, and she longed to get away. From everything.

For a second, Annabeth was tempted to open her window and run. For the millionth time in less than a month.

It wasn't like anybody would notice, particularly her parents.

It wasn't like Annabeth was a complete loner, though. She had her best friend, Silena and more friends in school. Although, she wasn't the one to attract attention, her head buried in books half the time. Annabeth liked it that way, not being popular and attracting attention.

Still, when she was asked to go to the mall with her friends, Annabeth either lied with an excuse, or said she was busy. She wasn't antisocial, but hated meeting up with friends after school. Her father refused to let her go, either way, thinking she was going out to drink and do drugs, which was to say a lot.

The only person that she had really ever talked to after school, years ago, was her former best friend.

Percy.

When Annabeth saw him, and the fact that him and his messy raven hair had not changed, her heart rate sped up. Annabeth wasn't the girl to get caught up with boys, let alone fall in love with them, but she wasn't sure whether she was or wasn't in love with Percy.

She was fifteen, and knew that she was too young to understand love, anyways. Yet she couldn't help but think about Percy and how he looked both different and the same when they used to be younger, and play in the park together.

He had told her about his secrets and Gabe ever since they were ten, but he had stopped talking to her after high school.

But she knew she had better things to do than crush over a boy in high school, who already had a girlfriend for almost a year. Even if she was the one that liked Percy first, she knew it was stupid and irrational to try to hate Rachel, and if Percy liked her, then Annabeth wouldn't get in the way of their relationship.

Sighing, Annabeth stopped herself from thinking about Percy, once again.

Annabeth jumped when the door of her room burst open, whipping her head towards the doorway.

Standing there was a silhouette she couldn't see clear due to the darkness of the room, but she guessed it was her mother due to the frame.

Flipping the light switch next to her door, Athena looked at Annabeth in surprise, "Annabeth? Why are you still awake? It's nearly midnight!"

Her voice was tired and heavy, like she was forcing herself to speak. Athena had dark bags under her piercing grey eyes that Annabeth had inherited, making it look like she hadn't slept in days, which Annabeth wouldn't have been surprised if she didn't. Her brown hair was up in a messy bun, several strands having fallen out.

Annabeth blinked, momentarily blinded by the light.

She raised her eyebrows, suddenly irritated at her mother. "Are you and dad done arguing yet?"

Athena heaved a sigh and shut her eyes for a moment before opening them again, "Annabeth-,"

"I'm sorry," Annabeth said, sarcastically, going to sit on her bed, "I couldn't sleep due to the sound of you and dad screaming your lungs out at each other."

She didn't know why, but Annabeth felt frustration bubbling up inside of her at the fact that she had lost another day of sleep because of her parents yelling.

Athena sighed, "Honey, I'm sorr-,"

"No," Annabeth replied, "You're not."

Normally, Annabeth wasn't this rude to her mother, but today was different

"Will you let me finish? Annabeth, you're not hearing me ou-,"

For the third time, Annabeth cut her off. "Hold on, do you need something I was going to sleep," She added, lying.

Athena opened her mouth as if she were going to say something. Then, shaking her head, she looked at Annabeth. "Nothing," She said, "I just wanted to say goodnight."

Surprised, Annabeth tried to say something but with a small smile, Athena shut the lights off once again, as well as the door, muttering something incomprehensible, and leaving Annabeth with the darkness of the night.

Percy's P.O.V:

Percy hissed through clenched teeth as he rubbed the alcohol swab through his cut skin, sending waves of pain and sting throughout his body.

Cuts were spread throughout his whole arm, from where Gabe's beer bottle had hit it, three hours ago. After spreading at least an hour trying to get the shards of glass out while Gabe was out drinking, Percy waited a couple hours before he cleaned the cut, completely exhausted. He struggled to stay conscious, not only because of the amount of blood, but because he had been up for almost three days without any sleep.

Fortunately, all the glass that was protruding out of his skin earlier had been removed by tweezers he had found in a package in one of the bathroom cabinets.

Blood was literally everywhere on the sink, from the counter to the mirror from where Percy accidentally put his arm to prevent himself from slipping earlier.

Percy knew there must be more glass in the living room where Gabe had thrown it, and if he didn't pick it up by the time he got home, Percy would get beat by him once again.

He looked at himself in the mirror, at his dull green eyes and his messy hair that he knew would be impossible to tame, and felt like crying.

But he couldn't. Growing up, Gabe had told him pain was just a feeling, just like happiness, and just like we loved to be happy, it was possible that Percy could learn to love pain just as much.

At first Percy thought it was a sick saying, but gradually, he thought that Gabe was right. Maybe you could learn to love pain, and get used to it.

Shaking his head, Percy forced himself to focus on cleaning his cuts out before Gabe came home and cleaning the place. Cleaning out the last cut, which was also the largest, stretching from his elbow to almost all of his wrist.

Percy had cleaned out all of his cuts, putting different sized band-aids on them, not knowing or having anything else to put. He cursed when he realized he had ran out of band-aids, and needed something to stop the bleeding, which still hadn't stopped for some reason.

Opening all the cabinets in search of any Band-Aids that had escaped the box, Percy shut his eyes in frustration and cursed under his breath when he had no luck.

He knew he couldn't walk around with a hoodie all day, considering it was July third, and in triple digits. He also knew he couldn't exactly walk around with numerous bandages on his arm, but decided he would wear his hoodie.

That was, if he ever found a way to stop the bleeding. Cursing a "fuck," He looked at the clock on his wrist, he breathed a sigh of relief seeing it was barely one. He still had about three hours before Gabe came home.

Grabbing paper towels from the roll that sat on the counter, Percy quickly threw out the shards of glass, throwing them out the window of the bathroom, and wrapping the bandages and bloody tissues, he flushed them down the toilet, one by one, suddenly anxious.

He put the extra towel papers, using them as band-aids of some sort and pressed them onto his wrist, gritting his teeth in pain. Leaving the bathroom, Percy realized he would somehow need something to stop the bleeding and to prevent his cut from getting infected.

Shrugging his hoodie on with his arm stuck out, Percy left the house, not daring to look at how messy the wall was at the moment.

The first thought on where to get anything was to ask Annabeth, but looking at their house, he saw both lights were turned off, except for the one in Annabeth's room.

He smiled, looking at it, the gold-ish glow that him and Annabeth used to tell stories in, giggle and play in when they were little.

Then it suddenly hit him at once. The convenience store and the market near Percy would be closed, the time of it shutting being midnight on Thursday.

He knew that going to the store at practically one in the morning was a bad idea, and that it wasn't safe in anyway, but he didn't have a choice if he wanted to stop the bleeding and he knew how bad it would turn from when he was ten and the same thing had happened. Although, he hadn't done anything to his scars, resulting in them getting infected.

Percy knew that there were no more Band-Aids in the house and could feel the blood soaking through the towel papers and onto his hoodie.

Annabeth. He knew she always kept bandages in her room, and feeling light-headed, Percy guessed he didn't have much of a choice but to ask her.

Percy was still outside his house, and he had no trouble walking over to Annabeth's house, but his nervousness was killing him.

Would she ask him why? What would he say? What if she was sleeping or her parents answered?

Making a decision in a split second, he walked over to the side of her house, Percy picked up a rock on the sidewalk, the sound of crickets and cascadas ringing in his ears.

Throwing them up at her window, Percy winced when he heard the sound of the rock hitting the window.

He counted exactly three seconds before the window opened, and Annabeth's head poked out. Percy was surprised she was still awake.

Hr couldn't see her clearly through the darkness, but he saw her look left and right before she found Percy. He saw her grey she's glint and she made a motion with her hand, that Percy guessed was a "get up here" gesture.

Hoping it was, and with Percy's heart pounding, he grabbed the mismatched bricks of her house, careful to not hurt his injured left wrist, he attempted to get up and not break his neck. Grabbing the pipe for support, Percy pulled himself up onto the extra ledge of Annabeth's window.

Her room was dark, except for her small light of the golden lamp glowing. He saw the light illuminate her blonde hair, and Percy couldn't help but think she was beautiful.

She looked at him worriedly, "Percy? What's wrong?"

Percy sighed, heart racing, "I need a Band-Aid."

Annabeth's eyes flashed with something Percy couldn't recognize. "Percy.. Why?"

Finding no point in lying, Percy promptly took his hoodie off, showing her the bloody tissue, angling it perfectly so she could see it through the light of the lamp. Annabeth knew about Gabe, and Percy knew she wouldn't tell anybody.

He saw her eyes widened, and she gasped. "Was this Gabe?" She asked, her voice laced sadness and anger.

Percy just nodded and she shook her head, "It hasn't gotten better with him?"

Shaking his head, Percy remained silent, not trusting himself to speak.

Annabeth looked at him with sad eyes, "Give me a second."

She rushed off, and for a second Percy thought she had left, but a moment later, she came back, three boxes of Band-Aids in her hand.

Percy stared at her, open-mouthed, "You know I only need one, not all you have."

Annabeth shook her head, "It's the least I could do, Seaweed Brain."
"Wise Girl," Percy told her, smiling, "Just give me one."

"Just take it," Annabeth said, persistent. She looked behind her, her face glowing in the light, then back at Percy, "Besides, you need it more than I do."

A/N: YAY! It's the tenth anniversary of Percy Jackson's first book coming out! Hooray! It's kinda sad yet happy to know how far our hero has come..isn't it? Long live the PJO fandom! And, another chapter of Broken. What do you guys think? I feel like the Annabeth and her mom part is OOC, but yeah, anyways. I have a killer headache right now but stayed up late to finish this and I hope you guys like it. I apologize if it isn't perfect or as good as you guys were expecting, but it's kinda hard to balance the updates between TWSH and Broken. I'll shut up, now. Let's get into the reviews!

marinaofthesea12: Aww, thank you! I'm so glad you liked it, love!

greekgeekgirlbro: Aww, thanks! I'm really glad you liked this. I hope you liked this as well, love! Are they blue cookies?

LucyTheCrazyUnicorn: Of course they are! :)

Guest: Aww, thank you! I'm so glad you liked this!

ShatteredOwl: Here it is! I hope you liked this, that kinda guy!

Bobbymichaels: Aw, thanks! I'm glad you can feel like you're actually in the story (I hope you didn't mean it as though you can relate or something.)! But my stories aren't that good, but I am so happy you think they are, love!

Weaselswillrule: Don't worry, weasel! I'm not :)

pjojellybeans: Aww, thank you! This is so kind, I'm glad you like this! :)

theartnerd333: You're reviews never fail to make me smile! Thank you, oh gosh, this is so nice! I'm so glad you liked this.. Oh god. I'm speechless of your kindness.. Thank you! TWSH will be updated soon, so yeah :) and I feel bad too, but I can't give out spoilers, I guess you'll have to wait and see what happens. Anyways, thank you so much! :)

Valdez-The-Repair-Girl chapter: Yeah, I understand that. I just need something to get in the way of them or something (and that probably sounds stupid). Of course, I don't intend on making this exactly on what happens in the TLO, also. Also, I don't find Gabe as that abusive, either, but what's the harm in another twist? I hope you don't mind, however. Although, I mean, we can't exactly judge Gabe on how he was really like, because after TLT, there wasn't much mention of him. But anyways, yeah, I'll be adding the other characters, also. I honestly hope I didn't come off as rude? Thank you! You're awesome :)

And that's the end of the reviews! I have a ton to say, but I feel like you guys get annoyed at how much I write/talk in my author's notes, so I'll try to talk/write as less as I can. Anyways, happy PJO anniversary! #LongLivePJO

I have a killer headache again, so I'll best be heading off to bed, considering it's almost four in the morning. Stay safe, and keep smiling, xxx.