Me: Thank you so much for the reviews guys! :D

WHY MUST PEOPLE IGNORE THE FORESHADOWING?

I mean, (SPOILER ALERT!) it's mentioned like, six times in the Son of Neptune with absolute certainty (I'm thinking Apollo has something to do with this) that Percy is going to do something stupid and/ or end up on Gaia's side. Not likely by choice, but something of that nature.

And dear God, I can definitely work with that. I love the entire idea of a dark Percy. ^_^

Unfortunately, this will be my last one shot exploring that path. -_-

(END SPOILER)

This is: Words

I don't own PJO.

Percy, Rachel

Summary preview: To heal those broken is a heavy feat.

"Get the heck off of me!"

I looked up at the guy in front of me, and attempted to kick his ribcage in. Another guy grabbed my offending foot, and together they dragged me off to a girl with red hair and emerald eyes, ignoring the broken bodies that others were tending too.

"We found Percy Jackson." the guy holding my arms told her.

Her face was one of utter shock. "P-percy?" she asked, a bewildered tone lacing her every word.

I glared at her.

Her eyes narrowed. "Wha-? I thought you were kidnapped! Or dead! What the frikken Hades, Seaweed Brain! I don't even freaking recognize you!" she yelled, and punched my arm. "Oh my gods, Annabeth is going to freaking love us. Finally she can stop freaking out! Its ab-" One of the guys carrying me cut her off.

"Percy was fighting for the other side."

Redhead blinked. "What? But.. no. No, that's impossible. Percy would never..." she trailed off looking down at my restrained body.

"Percy?" she asked softly.

I spat in her face.

Redhead pulled back, her face closing off. "I see. Jake, I trust you to be able to find four other highly trustful people. Annabeth cannot, under any circumstance, know that we... that we have a new prisoner." she told him.

The guy holding my feet nodded, his eyes wide.

"She's going to flip if she finds out on her own. I hope you know that, Rachel."

Rachel took a deep breath. "Yeah. I know. Take him to the basement of the Big House. And get someone to find Grover and bring him down here. We need to talk."

"Got it." the two guys said together before quickly pulling me away, not even getting a second glance on the now empty battlefield.

I woke up to see Rachel sitting beside me.

"G-afternoon." she told me. I glared at here, deciding to go the silent route this time.

Rachel looked over at me then sighed. "If I was Annabeth, this would be so much easier. You always did like her better then me. But no. She doesn't even know you're here. Otherwise she would have stormed this place that first week. But we need her focused. You... you would destroy that focus more then you already have."

"What are you even talking about?" I spat, giving up struggling and now searching for exits. Screw quiet route. I wanted answers.

Rachel sighed again with that bittersweet smile on her face. "You're girlfriend, Percy. Your mortal point, your best friend, your lifeline."

I raised an eyebrow at that. "You do understand that even if she was real, that it wouldn't matter anymore, right? I've been conditioned for as long as I can remember to crush all sappy emotions such as love, compassion, mercy, kindness, friendship, what some people may call 'morals'. I have no conscience. I am soulless."

"'Since you can remember'? What is that, nine months ago? Maybe ten? Face it, you don't know anything about your old life and that heightens your paranoia. Am I telling the truth? Am I lying about everything? Does it even matter? And do you truly believe yourself soulless? If you were, I'm sure Thantos or Hades would have done something with you by now."

"Why would they? What would they collect? The Underworld only takes souls, never bodies. In fact, they should be in debt to myself, for making their job easier. But since I was speaking in metaphor, this entire explanation has been pointlessly moot. Congratulations."

A flicker of a smile before her expression hardened again.

"You know, when you smile you almost look decent. Not pretty or even cute, but decent. Far better then this frizzy mess I see now."

CRACK.

The sound ringed through the room as Rachel's hand connected with my face. I grinned and carelessly spat blood out before looking back up at her.

Her expression; priceless.

"Oh, did that strike a nerve? A sensitive topic for my most gracious host? Should I lie and tell you how beautiful you are in ways that will truly be mocking you? Or should I tell you nothing but the truth in Greek so that your little eavesdropping friends out there can translate for you so that your pride isn't hurt so bad? Poor little frizzy haired, flawed, disgusting Rachel." I mocked, my voice one of perfect innocence.

Rachel took a deep breathe and closed her eyes. Her hands clenched like she wanted to hit me again, and for a moment I wished she would. Anything to change this utterly dull pattern my life had became.

Instead she just laughed a little before smirking. "That wasn't what you told me when we made out."

Well.

That had been unexpected. I saw the pride fill her face as time went by without me having a comeback and heard a guard whistle in the background. For effect of my next words I laughed a little, mocking her yet again.

"And... ? Is it suppose to bother me that I got drunk and found some whore ready to make out? Sweetheart, you might have been the first, but you sure as hell weren't the last."

She took another deep breath, rubbed her hands over her face, and glared at me.

"You are truly a pathetic creature."

And then she was gone.

Grover.

That was the name of the satyr sitting across from me.

Grover Underwood.

Why did that sound so familiar?

He didn't try and talk me into some religion of good-will like everyone else had. He wasn't spouting off how evil and twisted I was. He didn't act like I was an enemy.

Instead he just played a reed pipe; it was a Hilary Duff song.

Somehow, his fairly off-pitch playing affected me more then anything else they had tried so far.

And when he was gone, I kind of missed him.

How long had I been here? Weeks? Months?

I decided it was definitely months, as I drew a broken piece of glass across the floor in front of me, willing to do almost anything by now to relieve my boredom.

Where the hell was my fucking rescue team?

They're just words.

Just words.

Murder. Traitor. Pathetic. Shell. Sadist. Monster. These were the guards words. Rachel's as well, when I pushed her too far. Insults meant to destroy the image of myself Gaia had so carefully built.

Favored. Trusted. Loved. Savior. Wanted. Special. Son. Those were what Gaia had always told me. Gaia, Hypnos, Kelly... the only ones that mattered.

Right?

Murder. Traitor. Pathetic. Monster. Moving around and around in my head, in a loop that never ended.

"Face it. They aren't coming for you. You are nothing to them. And you know what's worse? You are less then nothing to the rest of the world. They don't care about you. They don't want you. You have always been just a stupid, ignorant little pawn to them."

One of the girl guards had told me that. Beefy girl. Certainly a child of Ares. And what she said hurt. If I knew that they were just words to bother me, I wouldn't have cared. But they weren't. Everything she said was true. If I was so important like Gaia insisted, then why wasn't I snuck out of here months ago? Why had no one even tried to come and get me?

Maybe that was why I finally gave up.

Useless. Pawn. Pathetic. Ignorant.

When Rachel came, I didn't move. Didn't even acknowledge that she was there. A rather differing change from my usual insults. I watched from the corner of my eyes as she hesitated at the doorway, as if waiting for me to critic on some little thing, before walking slowly to sit in front of me.

"Percy?" she asked. When I didn't respond, she sighed before saying "Percy." a bit louder.

I just stared off in space, completely silent. Rachel narrowed her eyes. "Percy. Talk to me."

I slowly turned my head towards her's, and toyed with catching her gaze while saying, "I had a dream once. When I was little. It was about how I was actually a fish, and that the only time I was human was when I was sleeping. I spent the whole next month obsessing over whether or not I was a fish or human."

I gave her one of my model worthy grins. "I was right. The world is just a part of a dream that a fish had one day. Perhaps, I'm not that fish, but neither are you. And in the end, does it matter if it means that you all are tragically murdered in cold blood before the fish wakes up?"

And then I laughed again as I saw her disturbed expression and as she scrambled towards the door calling for a healer.

When the shocked faces and whispers from passing campers actually reached me as Rachel took me to the Big House, I just grinned, an insane glint to my eyes. I winked at what seemed to be a fifteen year old girl, and watched far too amused as a blonde boy standing next to her instantly pulled her closer to him.

The centaur tried to talk to me. I watched as frustration at my pointless and mocking answers finally got through to him.

He left me alone with the guards, just like everyone else had.

The door opened.

Stormy gray eyes met mine, and in them I saw such disappointment, anger, and betrayal that I forced myself to flick off my emotions.

It was easier to be a soulless, empty person for her, when I didn't have that nagging guilt in the back of my mind.

Annabeth looked through the mirror glass at her broken friend. Without looking away she asked, "I know that Mr. D said that he can't heal him because whatever Gaia did to his mind was meant to be permanent and she put her entire force behind it. Even so... Will he be okay? Is there some way we can... fix him?"

Rachel followed her gaze and focused on the empty-looking demigod. "I don't know, Annabeth. I just don't know."

Me: More foreshadowing for a story that will never be written. I only wrote this because I found a bunch of my old notes I had written for a story (IT HAD A PLOT LINE! O.O) like this, and this was close to the end of the middle arch. I actually was proud of my work going over it.

And then I remembered my addiction, and put the notes in a binder where I am sure they will rot without inspiration to give them life.

Next Chapter: Pen and Paper

QUESTION: Does anyone know Annabeth's brothers' names?

Thoughts?

~ Anna/ Booklover98