A/N: This chapter is kind of a continuation from chapter 5: Dark. That said, it's a one-shot challenge so the two chapters do have different plots, just the plot of Dark led to the plot of this one. Ah, I'm explaining it badly.
TRIGGER WARNING: Suicide
Also, thanks to Guest for reviewing! I'd had a really bad day when you reviewed and you literally cheered me up no end.
Enough of my waffling now. Onto the story!
Give Up
How can a son of Poseidon drown? It's simple, really. He just loses the will to live.
Annabeth's death had affected Percy in a bad way. he didn't smile or laugh like he used to, and the omnipresent gleam in his eyes had gone out. His powers had grown to a terrifying extent and it didn't take much provocation for him to cause a tsunami or flood. His moods shifted and changed like the tide: rapidly and without reason. On his better days he would sit in his cabin, staring at photos of her. People tried to forget the bad days. He would turn the sword fighting arena into a mess or straw and dummy intestines. He would fly into rages and break his possessions. Even Clarisse knew to stay away on those days.
For the most part, he lived at Camp Half-Blood. He had become too powerful to be able to stay in the mortal world for long, and Reyna had made it clear he was too volatile to live in peaceful New Rome. His visits home to Manhattan were short and punctuated by monster attacks. Often he would walk into the flat covered in blood and monster dust, his eyes as dark as thunder clouds. The next night he would wake up screaming for Annabeth after being plagued by nightmares of the wars and her death. Sometimes he would dream of her final moments struggling in the Cocytus and Arachne tormenting her before ending her life. He dreamt he had fallen down with her, but he was unable to help as she was murdered. Sometimes he woke up feeling like he was still falling.
Sally would try and help him, of course. She would hold him as sobs racked his body and stroke his hair like she used to when he was a little boy. She knew, however, that he was beyond even her help. She couldn't pretend to understand the things he had been through, the things he had seen. The next morning, Percy would be gone.
His friends worried about him as Percy slowly retreated within his own mind, becoming more and more unreachable by the day. They held out some hope that help would come, but each knew that it was not coming. Even the gods had abandoned them again. They were left alone to save their friend.
The thing was that Percy did not want to be saved. He wanted - needed - to unleash his anger upon the world. He wanted to see people hurt as she had been hurt, as he still was hurting. The need for revenge was so deeply rooted inside of him that it would be impossible to dig out again.
Everything came to a head on July 1st, exactly a year since she had died. It was a hot summer's day and most of the campers were running around doing their activities. Percy had retreated into the woods for the morning and was just returning when a young girl of about 12 years ran into him.
She was one of the new campers, a recently claimed daughter of Athena. She had shoulder-length blonde hair and striking grey eyes. As Percy beheld her, all he saw was Annabeth. Their first meeting when she had told him he drooled in his sleep. Their underwater kiss on his 16th birthday. Their reunion in New Rome after months of separation. Her plummeting into the abyss whilst he stood there helpless, exactly one year ago that day
Anger bubbled up inside of him and he exploded. He let out an inhuman roar and backhanded the girl across the clearing. She screamed once and then fell to earth, lying still. That one scream released Percy from his stupid. He stared in horror at what he had done and backed up as campers formed a crowd around them. Chiron cantered onto the scene, Will Solace in tow. Will knelt down and fed the girl some ambrosia. Colour returned to her face and she began to stir, but that did nothing to alleviate Percy's guilt and anxiety. Chiron turned a grave face towards him.
"What happened?"
Percy's breathing quickened as so many of his friend's faces turned towards him. For the first time he saw the terror in them, terror he had caused. Shaking his head, he turned tail and ran.
The water had always helped clear his thoughts. Now, though, they were so jumbled that nothing could untangle them. Only one thought kept resurfacing over and over again.
Your fault. Your fault. Your fault.
Your fault she's dead. You should have done something.
Why didn't you do something?
Your fault. Your fault. Your fault.
Percy pressed his hands to his ears. He wanted it to stop. With a jolt, he realised there was only one way to make it stop for everyone. He closed his eyes, took one last shuddering breath, and let go of his control on the water.
It flooded into his mouth and nose and blocked his breathing. His throat burned and his lungs screamed for air but he ignored it.
In his final moments as his life began to fade, he thought of her. And, for the first time in a year, Perseus Jackson smiled.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this. I won't say I had fun writing it, but it was a lot easier than last chapter. Hopefully I'll update soon so, until then, bye!