A/N: To those who followed me in Twitter (total: 2 of them), they know that this chapter was supposed to be uploaded at least three days ago, but because I was busy and had a lot of things to do, I'm only updating now. Anyway, to those who haven't followed me yet, here it is: drakehayward11. And this is a rather short story but it's actually one of my favorites. :D

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NEVER LET ME GO

Chapter 9: 21 GUNS

PERCY

A fist connected with my jaw and I was thrown off of my feet. I stumbled and caught my foot against a slippery rock, making me fall on back. Josiah jumped on top of me and punched me in the face. There was a jab on my ribs and the wind was knocked off of me. He delivered another punch at the side of my face. My vision swirled. I kneed him on the stomach and he sat back up, breathless.

I stood up. "What the hell is your problem?"

He wiped his mouth. "Right now, you're my problem, Jackson." He charged at me again but I managed to sidestep him easily. The problem was he was so mad that he wasn't thinking straight. But he was fast, I'd give him that. Whereas I expected him to stumble, he whipped and kicked me on the shin. It was a hard blow and I wasn't able to stop crying out in pain.

"Percy!" Reyna screamed. I momentarily forgot about her. I saw that Noah was starting to stir in her arms. "Stop it, please!"

But Josiah wasn't to be stopped. He charged again. I once again sidestepped and spun, my back facing Reyna and Noah to block whatever was happening. I turned to face her. "Rey, get Noah out of here, now!"

Well, since I'm Percy Jackson, I made a mistake. I shouldn't have turned my back on Josiah. (Hey, I wanted to prevent Noah from seeing what was happening.) A strong pair of arms wrapped themselves around my waist, sending me falling face-first to the ground. My arms flailed, accidentally hitting Reyna's shoulder. She cried out, dropping Noah on the sand. My son landed with a surprised yelp of pain.

My nose hit the ground hard, breaking it. Blood flowed from my nostrils to my chin. Noah saw it and cried out, "Daddy!" He tried to run to me but luckily, Reyna was able to stop him.

"Daddy?" Josiah asked, sounding surprised. I brought my head back hard, hitting his face. He backed away, clutching his mouth. "That-that kid is your son?"

"Why do you even care?!"

I watched as his face grew red. He was so furious that I could practically feel the heat coming off of him. For a while I wondered why knowing about Noah was such a big deal to him but then I thought, Didn't Annabeth tell him about her son?

As an answer, Josiah ran forward, yelling "Argh!" He was fast this time and I wasn't able to dodge his attack. The heel of his right hand connected with my sternum, completely knocking every wisp of air from my lungs. He brought his knee up and hit me on the stomach hard. I doubled over, trying to catch my breath.

"You think I can't do Math, Jackson?" he sneered. "I know for a fact who that kid's mother is! You'd better stop hooking up with my girlfriend!"

I heard the sound of feet running behind me with Noah's voice yelling, "Don't hurt my Daddy!" I turned around to stop him but a shadow passed me and I saw Josiah's arm hitting my son across the chest. Noah's small body flew back. He would've hit a rock but Reyna was fast. She dove forward and caught him in her arms and they went rolling down the shore.

The sight of the two of them hurt enraged me so much that I wasn't exactly aware if what I did. I stood up and kicked the back of his knee. Josiah fell down and I straddled him, punching his face over and over again. "Who the fuck do you think you are to hurt my son?!"

"What the hell is going on here?!" I heard a voice demand behind me, a voice I immediately placed as Dad's. "Security!"

I grabbed the back of Josiah's head to smash his face against the ground but a voice stopped me. "Percy, stop please!" Reyna screamed. Noah was clinging tightly to her, saying "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy," over and over like a chant. He looked so small, so scared that it brought me back. Why was I so quick to lose myself? Why did I let Noah be exposed to this kind of violence?

"Oh, God." I stood up, leaving Josiah lying there and went to where Noah was. He tried to grab me again but was stopped by my Dad.

I almost crawled to where Noah was. He was shivering and was shielding his face. "Noah," I whispered. He shook his head and refused to look at me. "Noah, please." Noah lifted his head from Reyna's shoulder and went to where I was kneeling, hugging me tightly. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, Noah," I whispered into his ear, holding his shaking body against mine.

"Daddy," he cried into my shoulder. He was shivering badly to the point where it was like he was being electrocuted. I felt like my heart was being squeezed as I tried to calm him down but Noah was crying really hard, his tears soaking my shirt.

"Shh," I whispered into his ear. "Calm down. Please calm down." I kissed his forehead. "I'm sorry. Please calm down."

Noah looked up. He saw the blood dripping down my chin and cried even louder. "You're hurt!" he exclaimed. "Daddy, you're hurt!" It was almost to the point where he was wailing. I pulled him, holding the back of his head, against my shoulder.

Josiah was yelling behind us, screaming obscenities at me. "We're not done, Jackson! You hear me? We're not fucking done!" He was being dragged by two security personnel. Dad was following them, no doubt contemplating the legal actions he can take against him.

I saw Mom running to where we were, alerted by all the commotion happening. "What happened?" she demanded.

"You better come with me," said Dad.

I felt a hand touch my shoulder. It was Reyna. "Perce, come on," she said. "Let's get Noah inside." I slowly stood up, ignoring the pain that shot from my stomach, and carried Noah back to our room. His crying had slowed while we were walking and had completely stopped when we were inside. I sat him down on the bed. I could feel my throat closing up when I saw his teary face. "I'm going to get some ice, okay?"

I nodded at her, not taking my eyes off of my son. He was looking down, his chest rising and falling rapidly. "Noah?" I called to him. He looked up, sniffling. His eyes were very red. "Noah, I'm so sorry you had to see that. I'm sorry you got caught in the middle of my problems. I'm so, so sorry."

Noah wiped his nose. "W-why did he hurt you, Daddy? What does he want?"

I sat on the bed with him, holding his hands. "I don't know, buddy. I have no idea why he's so mad at me." Noah reached out to wipe the blood from my nose. He stared at the thick crimson liquid on his hand. This seemed to drive him over the edge again for he started to sniffle. "Shh. Stop it."

He shook his head wildly. "But Daddy, you're hurt. You're bleeding."

I dragged the back of my hand under my nose to wipe off the blood. "I'm fine, see?" I said, wiping the sticky liquid on my jeans. "Don't worry about me, please. I can take care of myself."

"But Daddy . . ."

"Noah, please," I said, looking him in the eyes. He nodded. Reyna went back from the kitchen, holding a small basin of warm water on one hand and an ice bag on the other. I took the water from her. Soaked in it was a piece of clean cloth. I placed it on my lap, took the cloth out and started cleaning myself. Reyna, on the other hand, pressed the ice bag at the side of my face.

The door opened and in came were my parents. "Will you please tell me what happened out there?" Mom asked. I shook my head, looking at Noah. Mom understood what I meant and went to pick my son up. "Come on, honey, let's get you cleaned up," she told him.

Noah shook his head vigorously. "No. My Daddy's hurt. I'm staying with him."

I looked at him. "Noah, just go with your grandma. I'm fine, I promise. Don't worry about me, okay?" He was about to protest but I said, "Noah, please." My son sighed. He went with Mom but not before giving me a kiss on the cheek. I gave him a small smile as he walked out of the room.

Dad leaned against the door, crossing his arms in front of his chest. He raised his eyebrows at me, saying, "Well? What happened out there?"

Reyna started telling him. Meanwhile, I tried to think of a possible reason why he was so mad. There was the only obvious reason at the back of my head but I refused to recognize it. Annaebth had confirmed it earlier, but I based on her words, Josiah didn't know about it. Maybe he found out? But how? These questions, I decided, were best left to be asked to the one concerned in this subject.

Dad looked like he's about to explode when Reyna got to the part where Josiah hit his grandson. He cracked his knuckles, his nostrils flaring. "I'll sue that bastard," he said. "Or we could deal with this thing the Jackson way. What do you want?" he asked me.

I tossed the ice bag on the bedside table and stood up. "We're not going to do anything just yet." Dad was about to protest but I stopped him. "We'll sue him, yes; he's not getting away for hurting Noah. I just need to talk to someone before anything else."

I went out of the room and headed to where Annabeth was.

ANNABETH

"Look, I can forget what he did to me, but he hurt Noah, Annabeth. He hurt our son. We have to do something about it."

I tried not to pay too much attention on Percy referring to Noah as our son and tried to focus on the matter at hand. Josiah was here. He found me when I didn't even know that I was here. I never anticipated he was capable of hurting an innocent five year-old. When I thought about it to find some possible reason why he hurt Noah, the only one I came up with was Josiah somehow found out that I was his mother. Based on what Percy told me, there was a huge possibility that that was what happened. I was starting to actually get scared of him, but not for myself. If I was right, he might take his anger out of my son.

"I-I'll talk to him about it," I said.

"And what, tell him to stop? I appreciate your effort, Annabeth, but I don't think your boyfriend can be talked into not doing what he did again."

"I'm really sorry for what he did, Percy," I apologized. "I really have no idea what's gotten into him."

Percy looked at me skeptically. "I think you do," he said quietly, sitting next to me on the bed with a wince. I saw bruises on his face. His nose was obviously broken and he was clutching his stomach every time he moved. "Annabeth, he accused me of hooking up with you. He was furious because he thinks we're going behind his back. Why would he think that? I mean, hardly see each other these days," he said, looking at me.

I looked away, unable to meet his eyes. "I don't think I can tell you."

"Oh, come on," said Percy, standing up. "Your boyfriend hurt Noah thinking that we're having an affair. I don't even know how Reyna's taking this. The least you can do is tell me why he's acting that way; you owe me that much."

I look up at him, suddenly upset. "Are you seriously asking me that question? Because I'm pretty sure we've already talked about it. Percy, you already know why. We both know you do – you're just refusing to acknowledge it."

He shook his head. "Because acknowledging it would be wrong. We both have our own lives now; we can't keep on reliving the past when we need to move on with the present."

"Seaweed Brain, our past is the reason why our present is being like this," I said. "Josiah knows what happened between us; he knows that you're the first person I've ever loved, the first one who actually showed me how to live. He knows everything about us – except for the fact that . . . except for the fact that we had a son and that – that my feelings for you never ended."

Percy sighed. "Is – is there any way for him to find out?"

I nodded reluctantly. "I was keeping a . . . a picture of you under my pillow. I checked it every night before going to sleep. Josiah went to visit me one day, that day that I took Noah to the mall. When I came home, he was there. He found it."

He gave a humorless chuckle. "God, this is messed up," he said.

I stared at him, offended. "Messed up? Since when loving someone counts as messed up? Look, I can accept that you're in love with someone else now, Percy. As painful as it is, I can accept the fact that you love someone other than me. When I told you I'm still in love with you, I didn't ask you to love me back, did I? I just wanted you to know. How is that messed up?"

"It's messed up because Noah is getting caught in the middle," he answered simply. "It's messed up because the son I've been protecting all these years has been hurt because of some unfinished business between us in the past."

"And I told you I'm sorry!"

"It's not your fault."

I scoffed. "Yeah, but every single thing you've said only pointed out that it's all on me."

"It's on both of us," Percy said quietly. "This is our fault. And I want to fix it. Starting with you."

I was caught off guard. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"We need to have a proper closure, Annabeth. We have to end things that should've ended five years ago." Percy sighed. "I'm sorry," he began. "Maybe we were both wrong back then. We were too young to actually understand what we wanted. We thought that what we had would last forever, but we were both wrong. What we had was young love; it was true, yes, but unripe, untested. We may have gone through things together; we were there for each other through everything, but in the end we still had to grow up on our own – we still have to find ourselves without each other getting in the way.

"We thought that that was it, that it was what we needed . . . that lead us to do the thing we did that night – the night we conceived Noah. Although it was a mistake, it was something I would never regret. What I regret was the part I played where I hurt you." I opened my mouth to speak but Percy stopped me. "Don't say I didn't because I know I did. I'm not exactly sure how much, but I know it was there – the pain I caused you. I wasn't able to acknowledge it because I'd been too blinded with my anger when you left. It was easier than to wonder why you would leave when you had us. Again, I'm sorry for hurting you."

I was quiet for a moment. I didn't even know that I was crying. Percy's words touched and hurt me at the same time. "Is this really goodbye, Percy?" I managed to ask after almost a minute. "Because I'm not sure I want to actually goodbye to you."

He gave me a sad smile. "We're just saying goodbye to that part of our life – being a couple. We don't need to say goodbye to Wise Girl and Seaweed Brain, though. They can stay."

I bit my lower lip. "I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to," he said. "Though I'm still waiting on what you plan on doing with Josiah about this situation. Dad wants to sue him, and frankly, I do, too. But I don't want to do it without talking to you first."

I didn't answer. There was only possible solution to this. Josiah was here because of me. He hurt Percy and Noah because of me. If I wanted to keep them safe, if I wanted them out of the line of fire, there was only one thing left for me to do. It felt like déjà vu because I've already done it once. It was different this time, though. Before, I left mainly because I was scared, now I was leaving because I would be protecting them.

"Alright, I'll stay away from you," I said. Percy opened his mouth to speak but it was my time to stop him. "Seaweed Brain, Josiah did all of these because of me. The only way he'll stop is if I stay away from you."

"Wise Girl . . ."

"Just . . . I'm sorry, okay?"

He frowned. "For what?"

"For this," I said as I crashed my lips against his. Percy stiffened for a second and I honestly thought that he was going to push me but he let go. I experimentally deepened the kiss, reaching deep inside Percy to tell him how much I loved him for the last time.

"Daddy?" a voice asked. Percy and I sprang apart. Standing by the door with a confused look on his face was Noah.

[Next - Chapter 10: CALM BEFORE THE STORM]