Okay. *deep breath* Sorry for the cursing, guys. Especially to my younger readers, I'm sorry. I was just stressed and angry-and I shouldn't have cursed, but I was tired of the way people were reacting.
I wrote this entire chapter in two days. It's almost 17 pages long. So I hope you give me some credit for the time I poured into this.
It's set up a little differently from other chapters-I didn't have enough in me for entire chapters in only one person's POV, so, voila, this is born. It switches POV from one person to the next, and I hope you don't mind it, because you'll probably be seeing more chapters like this as we get nearer to the end.
Tomorrow is my grandpa's funeral. And the first day of school. My parents let us decide if we wanted to go or not, and I really didn't want to miss the first day of school, but when it comes between family and school, I will always choose family. We have to drive a couple hours up to where they live tomorrow, so I have to get up super early to get ready to go so that we get there in time for his funeral at two.
We're staying the night and coming home Thursday, and I probably won't be writing anything until the weekend. Maybe Friday, I guess, depending how school goes.
My point is, don't expect the chapter too soon-not too late, either-and please don't leave reviews asking me when I'm updating, because at this point, even I don't know.
Thanks to everyone who supported and encouraged me. Just knowing that I have people like that, who'll always be there-it takes some of the stress away. Thank you doesn't cover it. But thank you, truly, thank you.
After I got past the initial crushing depression, writing got easier. And writing this, where the Seven are happy and loving and closer than ever-it made me feel so much better.
Thank you, to everyone, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter XCVI
Frank
Frank has to duck to avoid an apple when he walks into the mess hall. Instead of hitting him in the head, it smacks into the wall behind him, bounces off, and rolls to a stop by his foot.
He looks up at the others, eyebrows raised, and Piper, Percy, and Leo immediately all point at each other. He glances at Annabeth and she just rolls her eyes and shrugs. Jason has his head in his hands as if he's in pain.
Frank looks at Hazel, who came in next to him, and she shrugs too, before smiling at him and leading him to his seat.
"What's the argument this time?" Hazel asks as she sits down, looking to Jason and Annabeth.
"Piper's denial of her mother's identity." Annabeth answers, taking a sip of her drink without looking up. Piper glances at her aggravatedly, but she doesn't seem to notice. Leo has to cover his mouth to keep from laughing, and nearly falls off his chair to avoid Piper when she tries to smack him.
Percy just grins, as per usual.
At any other time, the normality of the situation would make Frank smile. But now it's overshadowed by his memories of the things he saw in the tunnels of Periclymenus' tomb. Whenever he looks at Jason, he can't help but see the image of him falling senseless from hundreds of feet in the air. When he looks at Annabeth, he sees her screaming in agony as poison acid eats away at her skin. Piper getting stabbed by that massive broadsword; Leo being crushed under a hundred tons of rock and dirt, buried alive; Percy lying unmoving on the ground while they all stand over him. And the worst out of all-Hazel getting knifed in the back by that unknown enemy.
Hazel must sense the direction his thoughts have turned to, because she squeezes his hand reassuringly and leans into him as much as her chair allows.
He smiles at her and forces his mind away from the events of Pylos. Like he told Hazel, today's not for worrying. It's their break; the only one they'll get, so he needs to make the most of it. And that includes refraining from thinking about those images.
"Who threw the apple?" He asks-not angrily, just curious.
"Piper, actually." Annabeth replies, shuffling through the pile of papers ever present at her table setting. "It wasn't aimed at you; she was trying to hit Leo with it."
"How does that even happen?" Frank exclaims, leaning back in incredulity. "He's in the exact opposite direction!"
Piper glares, and Jason's shoulders start to shake with what Frank suspects is suppressed laughter. He can't really tell for sure, since Jason's face is still hidden in his hands.
"I think Jason's having a mental breakdown of some sort." Hazel observes, reaching over and stealing food off of Frank's plate, smiling mischeviously at him as she eats it.
Everyone except for Annabeth looks over at Jason.
"I think he's just laughing." Percy comments.
"He shouldn't be." Piper says mutinously.
"Why's his head down, though?" Leo wonders.
"He's exasperated at your ability to be utterly moronic." Annabeth mutters under her breath.
"Hey!" Leo and Percy echo. Piper just rolls her eyes.
Annabeth reaches over and absentmindedly pats Percy's hand in a reassuring sort of way. "It's okay, Seaweed Brain. I still love you."
"Why is it," Frank starts, leaning over to whisper it in Hazel's ear, "that every time we all eat together, it ends up as something that should be recorded and leaves me feeling like I need popcorn to watch?"
She giggles, and presses her fingers to her lips to keep from laughing out loud and drawing attention.
"He didn't join in the argument because he didn't want to risk Beauty Queen's rage." Leo states. "I just don't understand why he ended up with his head in his hands."
"It's one of the universal symbols of exasperation." Percy says. "But I don't get why he'd be exasperated at us. And he has no right to be exasperated at me; I'm older than him."
"Obviously, age isn't everything." Piper observes.
"Neither are looks." Leo shoots back.
Piper throws her hands up. "That's what I said earlier!"
Jason makes a choking sound. "You're all insane. All three of you." He tells them, his voice strained.
"Actually, I'd revise that to 'all seven of us.'" Percy corrects. "You're just as crazy as we are. You're just better at containing it. And Hazel and Frank might be completely innocent and adorable, but that still makes them no less crazy than me or Leo."
Annabeth finally looks up from her papers and quirks an eyebrow at her boyfriend. "And me?"
"You're perfect." Percy assures her. "But you're crazy too."
"Really?" She asks, and tilts her head sideways.
Percy, to his credit, doesn't look at all nervous. "Yes. I seem to recall a certain time at camp where you ate too much sugar and-"
"Okay! I believe you!" Annabeth interrupts him, placing her hand over his mouth, looking mortified. "There's absolutely no need to tell that particular story."
"Oh, come on!" Leo complains. "I want to know what he was going to say!"
Frank would never admit it out loud, but he actually agrees with Leo.
"And you probably will at some point in time, years and years from now." Annabeth says. "But not today."
"The Stolls will probably tell them the story as soon as we get back to camp." Percy tells her.
"Not if they don't want to get murdered." Annabeth threatens, a dangerous light in her eyes.
"And there ends the insanity topic." Leo concludes. "Now what?"
Annabeth straightens, cautiously pulling her hand away from Percy's mouth before turning briskly to the others. "I actually had an idea for the next hour."
"Imagine that." Frank murmurs under his breath, smiling when Hazel has to hide a grin.
"Instead of taking the time for personal plans, I was thinking we could all pair up with the person we know the least about. Break up the normal teams and get to know everyone better." She explains. "I don't know Frank very well, for example. And Jason, you don't really know Hazel all that well, do you?"
Jason, who finally raised his head when she started talking, shakes his head. "No, not really. We've never really had a chance to talk much."
"My point exactly." She says, then glances at her boyfriend. "Percy, you and Piper have the same problem."
Percy shrugs, grinning sheepishly. "I've been distracted."
"By what?" Hazel asks.
"My awesome girlfriend." He answers, slinging his arm around Annabeth's shoulders and kissing her theatrically on the cheek. Annabeth chooses to ignore him, instead focusing on everyone else.
"Leo, you're the only one who knows everyone pretty well. So you can pick who you want to go with-I'd say either Frank and I or Percy and Piper, since you know Hazel and Jason better than almost everyone else." She says, looking at Leo for his reaction.
He shrugs, a reaction reminiscent of Percy's, which only serves to freak Frank out. Percy and Leo do not need to be any more alike. "That's fine with me. I think I'll go with Percy and Piper, if they don't mind. That way I can annoy both of them at the same time."
"Maybe you can finally come up with your own nickname for Percy." Annabeth replies, a faint smile tugging at the corners of her lips. Frank has no idea what she's talking about, but he'd guess it has something to do with one of their earlier conversations.
"Or he could help me come up with one for you." Leo adds slyly, smirking. "Maybe something that has to do with that story he was going to tell us earlier..."
Annabeth silences him with a look, and then has one of those mental three second conversations with Percy communicated mostly by glares. Whatever they say in their silent conversation, her looks make it perfectly clear that Percy isn't going to be telling that story any time soon.
Frank tunes out of the conversation after that, for the most part-he doesn't really feel like paying attention to their banter anymore.
Instead, he turns to Hazel, who's watching them with a slightly confused, but happy, smile on her face. Her fingers are absentmindedly twisting strands of her cinnamon toast hair. When she turns her head, the light makes her gold eyes glitter even more than usual, and they seem to burst with facets of light.
Frank smiles, and grabs her hand, twining his fingers with hers. She looks at him, a little surprised, but smiles back at him and leans into him, tucking her legs underneath her on the chair.
"How do you think things will go with Jason?" He mumbles in her ear.
"Awkwardly." She whispers back. "What about you and Annabeth?"
"Probably not too bad. We've talked before." He admits. "It wasn't so bad then."
She shifts a little against him. "Does she know about...?" She trails off and gestures vaguely, blushing a little.
Frank grins; she's so cute when she's flustered. "No. I almost told her, but...it just didn't feel right at the time."
"Do you think Percy's told her?" She asks.
"No." Frank replies, shaking his head. "He promised he wouldn't tell anyone, and no matter how close he and Annabeth are, he wouldn't tell her without my permission."
"No." She murmurs. "No, he wouldn't."
Frank pulls her closer, happy to just spend some time right next to her while the others keep talking around them.
Annabeth
Out of the corner of her eye, Annabeth notices Frank and Hazel cuddling and paying little attention to what's going on.
She doesn't hold it against them. If she could, she'd be doing the same with Percy.
She focuses back on the conversation and realizes they've somehow wandered onto the topic of tuxedo-wearing penguins. How, she has no idea. She doesn't know what's weirder, though-the fact that they're having a serious conversation about penguins, or the fact that Jason and Piper are also participating actively in it. Without laughing.
"Guys!" She interrupts, waving her hand to draw their attention. They stop talking and turn to her questioningly. "We can't sit here and talk about penguins all day."
"Technically, we could. Penguins are a very expansive topic." Leo points out.
"I still think seals are better." Piper interjects. "They're so much cuter than penguins."
Unwillingly, Annabeth glances at Percy, thinking of the way he looks at her with those baby seal eyes of his whenever he's begging her for something. "Baby seals are pretty hard to resist." She comments absentmindedly, then shakes her head. "No. You are not dragging me into this. Come on, guys, you can go continue your penguin conversations with your partners."
Jason glances over at where Hazel's snuggled against Frank and then back at her. He raises his hand like a student in class, a goofy grin on his face. "I think my partner's busy."
"Hazel! Frank!" Annabeth calls, rolling her eyes at Jason. "Come on, you two, lunch is over."
They both look up, their faces red, and untangle themselves from each other, climbing to their feet. Annabeth does the same, pushing back her chair and pulling Percy up by the arm.
"See you soon, Seaweed Brain." She tells him, smiling as she clasps her hands around his neck.
"See you soon, Wise Girl." He says back, and kisses her once on the lips before gently disentangling himself and turning to Piper with a mischevious grin. The poor girl is talking to Jason, her back turned to Percy, and though Jason spots Percy over Piper's shoulder, he doesn't say anything to warn her.
"RARRRR!" Percy roars, and tackles her, ignoring her shrieks of protest.
Annabeth carefully steps around them and makes her way over to Frank, reaching him just as Hazel departs with a final wave and heads out the door with Jason.
"Ready?" She asks.
"Yeah." He replies.
Percy rolls into a chair, sending it to the floor with a crash, and both of them jump before looking at each other and smiling sheepishly.
"How about we go to my room?" Annabeth suggests, and Frank nods in relief.
"Sounds good." He agrees.
Annabeth's at a loss at what they'll do once they get there, but she leads the way out into the hallway and then stops at the closet door when a sudden idea pops into her head.
"Hey, Frank." She says slowly. "Do you know how to play checkers?"
Leo
Leo looks bemusedly down at Piper and Percy, absentmindedly tinkering with a few spare pieces of metal. They're still wrestling-both of them have gotten at least one good hit in, and Percy will probably have a good bruise on his jaw where Piper punched him.
If I set myself on fire, would they stop? He wonders vaguely, stepping back when Percy's flailing legs nearly knock him over.
Percy steals the eagle feather out of Piper's hair and holds it teasingly just out of her reach.
"Jackson, you are so dead." She growls.
No, probably not. Leo decides.
"I'm so disappointed in you two." He tells them, shaking his head in mock exasperation. "Both of you in a relationship with someone else, and yet here you are rolling on the floor with each other."
They both freeze and ever so slowly turn to stare at him. Piper has one arm wrapped loosely around Percy's neck, and Percy's feral grin slowly fades as he glares at Leo.
"Kill him?" Piper suggests.
"Yep." Percy agrees, and Leo scrambles backwards as they both simultaneously surge upward and lunge for him, knocking over several chairs and sending them crashing against the walls and floor.
"It was a joke!" He protests in vain, twisting to avoid Piper's arm as she reaches out to grab his shirt.
"You need to work on your sense of humor!" She yells at him.
"Violence isn't the answer!" He yelps, racing for the doorway.
"Since when has that been true?" Percy retorts.
"Since about ten seconds ago!" Leo replies, skidding into the hallway and slamming into the opposite wall before sprinting towards the stairs. "It's been a few months since we've done this, huh, Piper?"
She growls. "I still don't know where you got that much liquid marshmallow."
"The Stoll brothers are a very valuable resource." Leo explains, taking the stairs two at a time.
Percy and Piper try to come up the stairs side by side and end up tripping each other, landing in a tangle on the stairs. Leo grins at the sound of their muffled cursing and continues up to the deck, slamming the door behind him and looking for somewhere to hide.
There isn't anywhere. Even if there was, they'd find him eventually, so it wouldn't really matter. Besides, hiding isn't any fun.
Leo races over to the control station and rifles through the shelves, grabbing a few things and stuffing them into his tool belt pockets. Then he goes over to the mast and starts to climb, just before the door bursts open.
"I'm going to kill you, Leo!" Piper threatens, her hair a frazzled, tangled mess. Percy's grinning, a sure sign that he's starting to enjoy the chase.
"Second time in one day you've chased a guy. What does that say about you, Beauty Queen?" He asks, widening his eyes innocently, but ruining the image as he mirrors Percy's grin.
She flips him off, letting out a string of curses that would put a pirate to shame.
"That's no way for a lady to speak!" Leo scolds, reaching the crosspiece and settling himself comfortably onto it.
"Since when has Piper ever been a lady?" Percy teases.
Piper punches his shoulder, and he yelps in pain, rubbing the spot.
"What was that for? I was just telling the truth!" He defends, and she rolls her eyes and ignores him. She crosses her arms and glares up at Leo.
"Unless you want me to come up there after you and push you down, I suggest you climb down." She tells him.
"Nah, I don't think I will." Leo replies. "It's pretty nice up here."
"You could always charmspeak him." Percy suggests.
Piper shakes her head. "That takes all the fun out of it."
While they're distracted, Leo digs in his pockets, pulling out everything he grabbed from the control station shelves. He looks down at his haul and grins. Life's about to get a whole lot more interesting. He thinks, and tosses one down.
"Look out below!" He yells, and Percy and Piper look up just as it hits the deck.
The paint bomb explodes everywhere, splattering the deck, the mast, and Percy and Piper with several gallons of sparkly hot pink paint.
Leo drops another five while they're distracted by the first one, adding powder blue, lime green, neon yellow, orange, and praetor purple to the mix. It looks like a neon explosion on the deck, and both Piper and Percy have paint everywhere, even in their hair.
He initiates the grand finale by dropping the biggest paint bomb of all of them, which bursts open in an explosion of colors, almost completely coating the two demigods in paint in all the colors of the rainbow. Then he drops one last thing-his favorite of all of them.
"Glitter bomb!" He shouts in gleeful excitement, and watches as Percy and Piper are covered from head to toe in glitter, sparkles, and sequins. When they look up at him, both of them are wearing downright murderous expressions, and Leo can't help but burst into hysterical laughter.
"Piper..." Percy starts, and Piper cuts him off.
"I know. Screw taking the fun out of things. This is war." She says, and glares up at Leo again.
Then she smiles, sugar-sweet, and Leo abruptly stops laughing. Uh oh...He thinks.
"Leo," she starts, and his attention is absolutely riveted to her, "Why don't you come down here..."
Hazel
Hazel looks up at the sound of shouting and feet trampling up the stairs, but relaxes when she recognizes Leo's voice. He must've done something to annoy Percy and Piper to the point of murder. Again.
"What do you think he did this time?" Jason asks, and she looks back at him, realizing that he's looking curiously at the ceiling above his head-the deck, where the sounds are now coming from.
"No idea. Something bad, from the sound of it." She replies.
"I hope they don't hurt him too badly. He's the only one who actually knows how to fly the ship." He says absentmindedly, obviously not too worried.
Then again, Hazel isn't either. Leo's gotten himself into trouble more times than she can count and gotten out of it again just fine.
"How do you think Reyna and Nico are doing?" Hazel asks abruptly-it's the first subject that comes to mind, and she really hates the way the silence just keeps stretching on.
"They've probably taken over the camps by now." He answers, grinning. "I really hope that one of them finally punched Octavian, though; he needs to be taken down a couple notches."
"Reyna probably did." She replies. "I get the feeling that she really hates him, and he didn't listen to her when she told him to wait. It gave her an excuse to finally do something about him, and if she didn't take that opportunity, I'll be having a talk with her."
"Octavian's an idiot." Jason says bluntly. "He's not dumb-he's like a weasel. But he's an idiot if he thinks he's going to get away with taking over the camp."
"I still owe him a punch or two." Hazel admits. "He tried to blackmail me one too many times."
Jason looks at her, surprised. "Really? He went that far?"
"After you disappeared, it got worse. If Reyna hadn't been doing everything she could to prevent it, Octavian would've been praetor a few weeks after Hera kidnapped you." Hazel tells him.
Jason's expression darkens, and he calls Octavian a name that makes Hazel's cheeks redden. "As soon as we get back, I'm going to knock a few of his teeth out. And maybe break his nose, too."
"I'll be next in line." Hazel says, and he smiles at her. They fall into silence again, but this time, it's much less awkward.
Hazel is the one who finally breaks the quiet. "You know Piper really loves you, right?"
Jason rocks back a bit in surprise, his face red and unable to meet her eyes. "Yeah, I know."
"She's my best friend." Hazel adds.
"Trust me, Hazel, I'm not going to hurt her. I love her too. She means more to me than anyone ever has." He admits, and Hazel relaxes.
"Good. She deserves someone who cares." She says vaguely.
"And I promise you that she has that." Jason swears. He finally looks up at her, and smiles. "You know Frank really loves you too."
Now it's Hazel's turn to blush and duck her head. "And I love him. He's always been there for me, ever since we first met, and he's the first I ever told about my past. I trust him more than anyone."
"Looks like we at least have that in common." Jason comments, leaning back and looking up at the ceiling.
"What?" Hazel asks curiously, and he looks back at her, smiling a knowing half-smile.
"Someone we care about, who cares about us." He replies, and Hazel can't help but smile, thinking about that.
Someone we care about, who cares about us...It's a nice thing to have. She thinks.
Her thoughts are interrupted by a knock, and she looks up to see Annabeth and Frank standing in the doorway, Annabeth looking flustered and regretful, while Frank has a huge grin on his face.
"Hey, guys. We're going to play Monopoly, and it's better with more than two people. Want to join us?" She asks.
"Our checkers game kind of failed." Frank adds, and Annabeth looks at him guiltily.
Hazel leans back, amused. "What happened?"
"Nothing." Annabeth answers quickly. "Now are you coming, or not?"
"Oh, come on, Annabeth." Jason complains. "It can't be that bad if Frank isn't permanently injured."
She just shakes her head, and Hazel tilts her head questioningly at Frank.
"Annabeth gets really competitive when she plays checkers." He explains, and Annabeth hits her forehead on the doorframe, letting her hair fall forward to hide her face.
"How competitive?" Jason asks, playing along.
"She sent the checkerboard flying across the room." Frank tells them, and they both burst out laughing. Annabeth groans.
"Can we go now?" She mumbles quietly.
"Sure." Jason replies, and stands. "We'll come with you; I want to see how frustrated Monopoly can make you."
Hazel grins, and falls behind to walk with Frank, glad to be with friends.
Piper
Piper pulls back, letting Percy see her handiwork. "There. How does that look?" He crosses an arm over his chest and strokes an imaginary beard, squinting with his lips pursed, acting just like an art critic studying a painting. Piper rolls her eyes at him, but he just ignores her and continues with his elaborate act, which is all the more comical because of the fact that he's still covered from head to toe in different hues of paint.
"Perfect!" He finally declares, throwing his hands up in the air. "My dear, you are an artist!"
"Shut up, Kelp-for-Brains." She tells him. He only grins. "You can move now, Leo." She tells the object of Percy's exclamations.
He doesn't move, just continues standing there with a dreamy expression on his face, open-mouthed with a trail of drool on his chin.
"Leo?" She asks, and pokes his shoulder.
"I think you broke him." Percy observes.
"So not helping." Piper replies. She shakes Leo, but he only stumbles sideways a bit.
"Here, Pipes, I'll fix him." Percy interrupts, pushing her aside, ignoring her glare at being called by her hated nickname.
Piper has no idea how he could possibly do anything more than she did, but she crosses her arms and watches him, glaring the entire time-
CRACK. Percy backhands Leo across the face so hard that he's turned sideways and forced back a step. Piper opens her mouth to protest, but closes it when Leo straightens up with his hand on his cheek and an indignant expression on his face.
"What was that for?" He demands. Piper has to stifle a giggle; the sight of him is just too much.
"You were drooling." Percy informs him, and his eyebrows shoot up in disbelief.
"Why would I be drooling?" He asks. Then he looks around and realizes he's in Piper's room, and his brow crinkles in confusion. "How'd I get here? Wasn't I just at the top of the mast?"
"No. You've actually been down here for a while." Piper answers.
"How-" He starts to ask, and then his eyes widen in understanding. He looks at Piper in incredulity. "You didn't." He says, in a hushed accusatory tone.
Piper nods, smiling, pleased at his reaction. "I did."
"But what did you do?" He asks, confused again.
Percy grins. "Oh, you are so going to love your new look."
"New look? What-" Leo starts, more confused than ever, but before he can finish his question, Percy steps forward and spins him around so he's facing Piper's mirror.
Leo yelps and stumbles backwards, looking down at himself in dismay, and Piper and Percy can't take it anymore-they both burst out laughing.
"You sons of mothers." He yells, staring at his reflection.
During his charmspeaked obedience, Piper and Percy swapped out his usual cargo pants and suspenders for a new outfit of their choice-which just so happens to be a dress.
A pink one. With sparkles.
The fairy wand ducktaped to his hand was Percy's idea, and Piper has to admit it was pretty ingenious. Add in the bow in his hair, the bubblegum pink lipstick, and the flowers drawn on both his cheeks, and the whole thing is just way too perfect for words. He's even wearing heels.
A sound of mixed outrage and indignity escapes from Leo's lips, and he reaches up to rip the dress over his head. Before he can, though, his shoulders sieze, and his arms fall back to his sides. He turns to look at Piper, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why can't I take it off?"
Percy starts laughing harder, and has to grip tightly to her bedpost to keep from falling. Piper just manages to stop, and limit her amusement to a grin. "A last parting gift from yours truly."
He raises an eyebrow in a silent question, asking her to explain.
"Before Percy 'woke you up,' I charmspeaked you so you can't take it off until tomorrow morning." Piper tells him, and has to bite her lip to keep from laughing again at the look on his face.
"Please tell me you're joking." Leo begs, and when she shakes her head at him, he looks from his reflection and back down to the dress in horrified dismay.
Percy slides to the floor with a thud, his sides shaking with silent laughter, tears streaming down his red oxygen-deprived face.
"Breathe, Percy, breathe." Piper reminds him, and he gulps in a wheezing breath before collapsing back into laughter. Piper grins, watching him, and shakes her head.
"Come on, Percy, we haven't done the last bit yet." She tells him, and out of the corner of her eye she sees Leo freeze and turn slowly towards her.
"What last bit?" He asks, a slightly panicked note in his voice.
Piper ignores him, and holds out a hand to Percy, who's graduated from silent laughter to wheezing and seems to be gradually getting it under control. He takes it and pulls himself to his feet, wiping away tears and finally turning to grin at Leo, his eyes still watery and his face still red.
"Come on, Leo, time to visit the others." He announces cheerfully, and Leo backs away slowly.
"Oh, no, no, no. No. I am not going to see anyone else while I'm wearing this." He protests, shaking his head vehemently.
Piper exchanges a glance with Percy, and the next second they each have Leo by an arm and are frogmarching him out into the hallway and down to Annabeth's room.
"Let me go, you idiotic fish-brained morons!" He protests, lunging backwards, trying to escape their grip.
"Only one of us is fish-brained, actually." Piper corrects, and Percy wrinkles his noise. Then his face brightens and he slaps Leo on the back.
"Hey, man, you finally did it! You came up with a nickname no one else has before!" He informs him, and Leo stops struggling to glare at him with a sour expression on his face.
"Fish Brain really isn't the best nickname, and I'd really rather have never been in this mess than anything." He responds, and then starts twisting again as they near Annabeth's door.
"I dunno, it's got a certain ring to it." Percy comments.
"No no no no no no no." Leo chants in a panicky voice. "There is no way I'm going in there; not in a million years."
Piper grins at Percy over the top of Leo's head, and, together, they fling open Annabeth's door and shove Leo inside, quickly shutting the door behind him and cutting off his escape route. Percy holds his hand up for a high five, and Piper eagerly returns it, bumping her hip against his.
"We don't make such a bad team, you and I." She tells him, and he grins.
From inside the room, they hear a thud and then Leo cursing in Spanish, and they both look at each other and start laughing again.
Jason
Jason looks up at the sound of the door opening just in time to see Leo pushed in by two pairs of hands. He stumbles forward, just catching himself, and looks up to see everyone staring at him.
Because he's in a dress. A pink dress. With glitter. And a fairy wand taped to his hand. And a bow in his hair, and flowers drawn on his cheeks, and bright pink lipstick painted on his lips.
Jason is speechless, and apparently so are the others, because the room is completely silent.
Leo tries to take a step back, but his ankle wobbles and twists sideways-no doubt a side affect of the heels he's wearing-and he crashes to the floor.
He stares, dazed, for a few seconds, and then starts cursing creatively in Spanish.
Hazel stifles a giggle next to him, and Leo immediately stops talking and glares at her, crossing his arms and pouting his lips grumpily, his eyebrows drawn together in a scowl.
"Leo," Annabeth starts, her voice tight with suppressed laughter. "Why are you in a dress?"
Leo mumbles something about "prank," "paint bombs," "revenge," and "no good, dirty rotten, fish-brained morons."
"Aw, come on, Leo, don't be like that." Hazel coos, giggling. "You look good in a dress."
Jason realizes he's been gaping open-mouthed at his best friend for some time now and hurriedly closes his mouth, shaking his head in disbelief. "Really, man, you had to go and get yourself in trouble again?"
"I didn't know they'd react like this!" He protests, gesturing at himself.
"I'm surprised something like this hasn't happened before now, actually." Annabeth comments, and they all turn to look at her. "Percy's a world-class prankster."
"Really?" Jason asks, surprised. He knows Percy can goof off sometimes, but he never really thought of him as a prankster.
But Annabeth nods, confirming her words. "Yep. Him and the Stoll brothers had a thing going on back at camp, before he disappeared. He initiated the camp's first ever full out prank war."
"The Stolls never told me that!" Leo complains.
"They wouldn't. Percy was the only one they never pranked-they tried it once and didn't like the result, so they came to an agreement with Percy that they'd never prank each other again as long as they worked as a team to prank others." Annabeth tells them. "The Stolls wouldn't want it getting out that they're afraid to prank someone. It'd ruin their reputation."
"Well, anyway," Jason interrupts, sensing that this conversation could go on for some time if he lets it, "I still want to know what you did to deserve this, Leo."
"Why do you think I did anything?" Leo asks, trying to look innocent and failing miserably.
"Because Percy and Piper wouldn't do something like this without a valid reason." Jason replies.
"It was a last resort! If I hadn't done it, they never would've stopped chasing me!" He defends.
"Why were they chasing you in the first place?" Hazel interjects.
"Um." Leo replies. "I may have made a slightly less than appropriate comment about them rolling on the floor together when they were wrestling in the mess hall."
Annabeth makes a choking sound that might be a surprised laugh. "You said what?"
"Of course, they started chasing me, and to avoid getting killed, I ran up on deck-they tripped on the way up the stairs, which gave me time to grab a few of my toys-and climbed up the mast." Leo hurriedly continues explaining, obviously wanting them to forget about the initial cause. "They were going to climb up after me, so I dropped a few of my paint bombs."
"Paint bombs?" Frank asks, but Leo continues with his story, ignoring him.
"They probably wouldn't have done the dress thing, even with that, if I hadn't dropped the last one-it was a glitter bomb." Leo explains. "A bomb full of glitter and sparkles and sequins that stick really well to wet paint."
"No wonder you're in a dress." Jason comments incredulously. "I'm surprised they didn't do worse."
"As if insulting my masculinity isn't enough!" Leo retorts, throwing his hands up. "They put me in a dress."
"A pink dress." Annabeth notes. "With enough tulle and sparkles to make Hello Kitty throw up."
"What is Hello Kitty?" Hazel asks, confused, but no one answers.
"Where are Percy and Piper now?" Annabeth asks.
"Probably in the hallway laughing at me." Leo answers grouchily.
Hazel stands and goes to the door, standing to the side to give the others a view before opening it.
Leo's guess was right. They are, in fact, literally rolling on the floor laughing, leaving streaks of multi-colored paint and glitter all over the floor.
Jason gapes again at the sight of his girlfriend covered in paint and sparkles, and expects Annabeth to have a similar reaction, but when he looks over at her, she's just staring bemusedly at her boyfriend's antics, a slight grin on her face. She notices his incredulous look, though, and answers his unspoken question.
"I'm used to it." She explains. "This is at least better than the night he showed up at my cabin completely covered in black mud."
Jason decides it's better not to ask.
Percy's the first to recover from his laughter, and he just lays on his back in the hallway for a minute or two, gasping like a fish out of water (which Jason thinks is a perfectly fitting analogy). Then he sits up and grins, the picture of insanity.
Hazel absentmindedly raises the camera she brought from the mess hall to commemorate their Monopoly game and snaps a picture.
One that Jason thinks should be on the cover of an asylum pamphlet.
Percy lurches to his feet like a drunkard, stumbling a bit, and then walks towards them, his arms out for a hug. "C'mere, Annabeth, beautiful girlfriend of mine!"
"No, Percy-" Annabeth tries to protest, scrambling backwards, but Percy wraps his arms around her and hugs her to him, planting a kiss on her cheek.
Jason has to muffle a laugh, and he stands to help her out of her predicament, but before he can, arms wrap around his middle and pull him into a backwards hug-rainbow, glittery arms.
"Piper!" He protests, and tries to push her arms off, but it's too late.
Giggling, she reaches up with one hand and rakes her fingers through his hair, making glitter shower down around his face.
Hazel and Frank discreetly edge away, trying to escape the insanity, and Piper and Percy are immediately on them, covering them in glitter and paint too. Hazel ends up with her cinnamon toast hair completely filled with sequins and glitter, and Frank gets rainbow football streaks below his eyes.
Looking at the others, Jason can't help but be grateful for the fact that they ended up much worse off than him. It makes the whole thing a little easier to laugh at, although no doubt he would've laughed no matter what, even if he was completely covered like Percy and Piper.
He realizes it again, for what must be the hundredth time this day-when you're with friends, it's so much easier to be happy.
Percy
For a few blissful moments, Percy completely forgets everything that's happened before this point-Rome, Tartarus, the nightmares-and just laughs, and grins, and is happy.
Then as his laughter finally starts to wind down again, and he sits heavily down on Annabeth's bed, the pain slams through his veins hard enough to make him gasp-his laughter cuts off abruptly, and he grits his teeth, closing his eyes and bunching Annabeth's blankets inside his fists.
After the first few seconds of the initial burning, mind-numbing pain that makes him unaware of anything else, he's aware that Annabeth's sitting next to him. She's holding his hand, and her hair tickles his cheek as she whispers encouragement and reminders into his ears.
"It's okay, Percy." She tells him. "I'm here."
She knows that of everything she could say, those words mean the most.
When the pain finally fades, Percy's left with his limbs feeling like lead, utterly exhausted. He opens his eyes and lays back on her bed, staring at the ceiling.
"Can I take a nap now?" He groans, and Annabeth smiles faintly at him.
"Sorry, Seaweed Brain. No rest for the wicked." She quips, keeping her tone as light as she can.
"Pretty please?" He begs, giving her his best baby-seal impression.
She slumps a little, weakening, but then shakes her head and tugs insistently on his arm. He goes limp, closing his eyes and groaning every time she pulls. "No, Seaweed Brain. Up. Story time."
He opens one eye a crack. "Story time?" What does she mean by that?
"I think it'd be a good idea if we went around and everyone told one thing about themselves that nobody else knows." She explains.
"Oh, come on." He complains. "That's way too much like the first day of school."
"You do that in school?" Hazel asks, her face scrunched in confusion.
"Standard new kid procedure." Leo answers from his place on the floor-he still hasn't gotten up.
Annabeth puts her hands on her hips. "Well, we're doing it anyway, and if one more person complains, I'm going to lock you all in the closet for the night instead."
No one says anything.
"I think you scared them, Wise Girl." Percy finally whispers, breaking the silence.
Her gaze softens when she looks at him, and she reaches out her hands to help him up, which he gladly takes, pulling himself up and then tugging her into his arms.
"Percy-" she starts, exasperated, but he silences her with a kiss. It only lasts for a few seconds, but it's enough for them.
"Thanks, Wise Girl." He murmurs to her, and then lets go, turning to the others and summoning a cheerful expression. "Right, then! Let's go!"
"Where?" Jason asks.
"The infirmary." Percy answers, his voice too chipper. "It's a bit too cramped in here for a slumber party, don't you think?"
"The infirmary it is." Jason confirms, and starts to go out the door. He stops when he realizes Leo's in his way. "Aren't you going to get up?"
"No." Leo grumbles, crossing his arms again. "These heels are needlessly inflicted torture. They should never have been invented."
Percy has to cough to hide a laugh, and Annabeth makes a noise in her throat that sounds suspiciously like laughter as well.
Piper rolls her eyes. "You can take off the heels, Leo."
Leo glares at her. "She-devil." He mutters, and then kicks off the heels, climbing to his feet and heading down the hallway barefoot, his pink dress flouncing behind him.
They all have to stifle their laughter at his less than masculine exit, Percy and Piper in particular.
It's been a while since I've had a day like this. Percy thinks. A day where I never stop laughing and the good parts make all the bad parts fade into the background. He tilts his head, smiling, and twines his fingers with Annabeth's, swinging their hands back and forth.
It's nice to forget sometimes.
They all leave the room as a group, and push each other good-naturedly into the walls out in the hallway. Jason shoves Percy at one point and he responds by football tackling Jason into the opposite wall and then putting him in a headlock.
When they reach the infirmary door, Leo's standing outside it holding his Xbox remote-where it came from, Percy has no idea. But he's wearing his I-know-something-you-don't smirk, so Percy knows either something wow-worthy or amusing is about to happen.
Either that or something is going to blow up, which is pretty great too.
"Prepare to be amazed!" He exclaims.
"Leo, what are you doing?" Piper asks, obviously skeptical.
"You doubt me, fair lady?" Leo replies, placing a hand over his heart in mock hurt. "I'm deeply offended by your lack of trust in me!"
"Please don't blow anything up this time." She pleads.
Leo waves her comment away and presses a button on the controller.
From inside the infirmary, Percy can hear the whir of machinery, metal clicking into place, gears turning...and then it stops. Silence.
Leo grins and then doffs an imaginary hat before opening the door with a bow and a flourish.
Annabeth gasps, giving Percy's hand an excited squeeze, and even he has the sense to be a little amazed.
The infirmary is completely transformed-the cots are gone, replaced by cushioned couches and plush chairs; loveseats, a futon, several bean bags, and even a few butterfly chairs. A few coffee tables are scattered around the room, and the wooden floor has been replaced by thick, plush carpet. It's cluttered, but comfortable-cozily cramped.
"Thank you, thank you." Leo says, bowing to the imaginary applause of an imaginary crowd.
"How?" Annabeth asks, only capable of one word.
Leo grins. "A magician never reveals his secrets."
Percy takes a few steps into the room, then stops when he hears a muffled giggle from behind him. "Percy, you're leaving a trail of glitter." Annabeth tells him, and he looks down at the carpet, where there is indeed a trail of paint and glitter. It looks like something that'd be left behind by a magical unicorn or something.
He looks down at his clothes thoughtfully. "Maybe I should change first."
Annabeth nods vigorously. "And scrub some of that paint off your face, please; I don't like getting glitter in my mouth when I kiss you."
"Wait!" Hazel says, stepping forward. She raises the camera still held in her grip. "We should get a picture first."
"Great idea." Piper tells her, straightening. "Be right back." And she slips out the door. When she comes back, she's toting along a camera stand with her-and Percy has no idea where it came from, because he doesn't remember seeing it in her room. Maybe it was under her bed.
"Here. Now we can all easily be in the picture." She says happily, and sets it up.
Percy and Piper stand in the middle, in all their rainbow-glitter glory, with Annabeth next to Percy; Jason next to Piper; Hazel next to Jason; and Frank next to Annabeth, with Leo kneeling in front of them all.
Piper crosses her eyes and sticks out her tongue, and Percy gives her bunny ears while Annabeth laughs and gives him moose antlers. Jason pulls Hazel into a brotherly side-hug, and Frank stands at the edge with his arms crossed and an amused smile on his face as he watches his fellow demigods acting like idiots.
Leo's probably the best part of the picture, though-he's kneeling on the floor, kneeling back slightly, with a hardcore rocker expression on his face-eyebrows scrunched, tongue out, and both his hands held up in the rock-and-roll symbol.
And, of course, he's still wearing his dress.
"This is perfect." Piper proclaims, grinning.
"I agree." Annabeth says. "Now, go change. You too, Percy, go. Shoo. And don't forget to try and wash some of that glitter off your face!"
"I think we should all just go ahead and change into our pajamas." He tells her.
"But it's only four." Hazel protests.
"So? Pajamas are perfectly cool for the day, too." He argues, and the others gradually nod in agreement.
"Fine." Annabeth says. "I guess we might as well."
She follows him to his room-most of her clothes are in there now, instead of her own room. When he gets there, he takes off his shirt and twists his head around to see his back in the mirror-his cut has healed up pretty nicely. Faster than they would have without any help-the ambrosia and nectar must've done something, then. Or maybe it was the saltwater that did it.
"Hey, your stitches are ready to come out." Annabeth says, a little surprised, and Percy nods.
"Looks like it, huh? Do you have anything to use?" He asks.
"Yeah." She answers, shifting uncomfortably, a little nervous.
He smiles at her. "Come on, Wise Girl, I'm a big boy. I can handle it."
"Okay." She concedes, still a little uncertain. "Lay on the bed, I need to be able to see them better."
Five minutes later, the stitches are all out, and all that's left is the scar that stretches hugely across his back.
"I don't know how I'm ever going to explain this to my mom." Percy mumbles, looking at it in the mirror.
"Speaking of which, why haven't you talked to her?" Annabeth asks, and Percy shrugs uncomfortably.
"I don't want to-to get her hopes up. There's still a chance this might not end well, and I think it'll hurt her worse if I IM her and tell her I'm okay, and then never come home. And I don't want to have to tell her what's going on-if she knew, it'd just make her worry worse." He explains, staring at his hands.
Annabeth puts a hand on his shoulder and turns him to face her. "You'll be fine, Percy. You'll get to see your mom again. Okay?"
"Okay." He murmurs.
They head back to the infirmary a few minutes after that, Percy wearing a pair of pajama pants and no shirt, and Annabeth wearing an over-sized t-shirt (his) and workout shorts.
"Took you long enough." Piper teases. "Did you get distracted?"
"Annabeth spent a few minutes taking my stitches out." Percy explains cheerfully. "If that counts as getting distracted, then yes."
No one seems to know what to say to that, so they all busy themselves dragging beanbags over to the middle of the room and rolling out sleeping bags-which Leo grabbed from the closet while they were waiting for Percy and Annabeth.
"All right." Annabeth says, settling herself comforably against a beanbag. "Story time. Leo, you first."
Leo stretches lazily from where he decided to lay in the middle of the floor and stares at the ceiling. "After my mom died, I was bounced around from foster home to foster home, and I ran away from every single one. I think I'd gone through over thirty families before the social workers finally stuck me at the Wilderness School." He glances at the others. "Also, I love One Direction."
Percy has no idea if the last bit's true-he doubts it, because he recognizes Leo's tactics. Hide the pain with jokes-keep things light, so no one sees how much the memories really hurt.
"Seriously, Leo?" Piper asks, shaking her head. "Five Seconds of Summer is so much better."
"No way; One Direction is way awesomer than them." Leo argues. "Besides, Five Seconds of Summer has barely been around long enough for them to gain a real following."
"Obviously it has, or I wouldn't know they exist!" Piper shouts, aggravated.
"Your turn, Hazel." Annabeth calls over them, cutting off the argument before it can get too serious.
She hesitates. "I don't know. You all know almost everything about me."
"It doesn't have to be something big." Annabeth tells her. "It could be something super simple, like the time you first started liking Frank."
"As soon as I met him." She mutters under her breath. "Against my better judgement."
"Wait, what?" Frank asks.
"Nothing." She answers hurriedly, and then pauses to think of something. "When Nico first took me from the Underworld, we stayed a few days in a hotel while he told me about the modern world so that people wouldn't be too suspicious. The first few nights, I had bad nightmares. He always woke me up and comforted me, and he'd sleep in my bed with me to make sure I fell back asleep." She glances up, blushing a little. "It was the first time anyone had truly cared for me since my mom had been taken over by Gaea."
Percy shifts in his seat, closing his eyes for a few seconds in tribute to Nico's first sister, Bianca. Sorry, Bianca. I couldn't save you. He thinks to her, and then promises himself that he'll make sure the same thing won't happen to Nico. Even if he hates me, I won't let him die.
"Jason?" Annabeth asks, prompting him to go next.
"Um. Let's see." He starts, looking up, obviously searching through his memories for something appropriate. "I used to have dreams about Thalia. I knew she was my sister, but I didn't know what happened to her, or why I could remember so little of her. When I was younger, I'd wake up crying her name, but she was never there."
Percy feels a brief lance of worry for Thalia. He hopes she's doing okay on her way to meet them at Athens.
Piper goes next without any prompting. "My dad's Tristan Mclean, the famous actor. And when I was little, I met a homeless man named George and took him home with me. He lived in my closet for a week before the maid found him and told my dad."
George and Fred. Weird names for homeless people. Percy wonders absentmindedly. He closes his eyes, realizing that Frank is next, and knowing intuitively exactly what he's going to say.
He hears Frank take a deep breath, and opens his eyes to find Frank looking directly at him. Percy nods, just once, urging him on, and Frank reaches into his pocket and takes out a small drawstring bag, untying it and shaking the contents into the palm of his hand.
"When I was born, Juno appeared to my mom and grandmother and told them that I would be the strongest and greatest of my family. But then she told them that I'd also be the most vulnerable." He holds up the piece of charred wood in his hands. "My lifeline is tied to this piece of wood. If it burns, so do I."
"Although, thanks to me, the likelihood that it'll ever burn is zero to none." Leo adds.
Frank smiles a little, and quickly places the wood back into its drawstring bag, his hands shaking. He tucks it into his pocket, and that's when the questions start-"Does it hurt when the wood burns?" "Can you still be killed if your lifeline is tied to it?"
While they talk, Percy turns to Annabeth, and finds her already looking at him, her expression sad.
"We need to tell them." She tells him quietly.
"I know." He murmurs.
"I don't know if I can get the words out." She whispers, her eyes already welling with tears.
Percy pulls her closer. "It's okay. We'll do it together. And I'll be right here-I promise."
She looks up at him, a spark of hope sparkling in her gray eyes, and smiles.
Meanwhile, Frank turns into a puppy to avoid further questions, and Hazel coos and gathers him into her arms. His soulful brown eyes make him the perfect puppy, and Piper and Hazel spend several minutes baby-talking Frank-as-a-puppy.
When he finally turns back, they all seem to realize it's Percy and Annabeth's turns, and they turn to them. One by one, they all fall silent at the sight of the grim looks on their faces, all of them realizing: It's finally going to happen. They're going to tell us now. We can know what our friends went through; why they have nightmares every night...
"When we fell, it seemed like it lasted forever." Percy starts, deciding to just jump in. He remembers the darkness, how it never ended, how he couldn't see Annabeth at all...The only thing keeping him sane was the feel of Annabeth in his arms.
"When we finally neared the bottom, we could see again-and there was water underneath us. A black river, winding its way into the darker depths of Tartarus." Annabeth continues, her voice a whisper. "Percy only just managed to control it-he's the only reason we survived the impact."
"The water was freezing cold-but that wasn't the worst part." Percy adds.
"It was the River Cocytus-The River of Lamentation. It's made of pure misery, and all around us, there were voices urging us to give up, telling us that life is pointless and it'd all be easier if we just gave in..." Her voice trails off, and she shivers every so slightly.
"I almost didn't make it to shore." Percy admits, his jaw tightening at the memory. "Controlling the water took so much out of me, it was a miracle I was still conscious. I would have done what the voices said; given up right then and there, if Annabeth hadn't intervened."
They go on like that, in turns, telling their story to the friends they now count as family. Percy doesn't see them, though, as he talks-he relives every moment of Tartarus, seeing the events unfolding before him like some sort of demented movie. But he keeps talking, knowing he has to hold it together, for Annabeth, for the others.
When Annabeth starts talking about the arai, though, he has to leave the room, and finds himself sitting in the hallway, his back against the wall and his head in his hands. A minute later, Annabeth joins him, taking a seat next to him on the ground and resting her head on his shoulder, eyes closed.
"We're out, Percy." She whispers. "We actually made it out. We're just retelling the story-it's like every other time you and I have had to recount the events of a quest to Chiron. It's just a little harder."
Percy takes one shuddering breath, and exhales. Then they go back into the room to finish the story, together.
Annabeth
When Annabeth looks at Percy, and sees the shadowy bruises under his eyes, the shattered look of a broken man trying to gather up the pieces, it feels like a razor blade is being drawn across her chest. She knows she can't look much different, and she hates that Tartarus did this to them; hates that it hurt them in such a permanent way. Her ankle starts to throb as she continues talking, and she finds herself absentmindedly rubbing it whenever Percy takes a turn.
Her heart feels like it'll tear into pieces when she tells certain parts-Akhlys, and every single time Bob or Damasen's names come up.
When they tell the story about Nyx, and how they tricked her by pretending they were tourists, Leo makes a strangled choking sound in his throat that might be a laugh and stares at them incredulously.
"You did what to trick her?" He asks, and Piper punches him in the shoulder, but it's his reaction that helps Annabeth get past that part of the story. When she recounts how Percy jumped a twenty foot chasm, they exclaim in surprise and look to him for an explanation, but he just shakes his head and pulls Annabeth closer to him.
Percy has to stop talking as they get closer to the end. Meeting Tartarus, leaving Bob and Damasen-that always affected him more than it affected her. His skin turns paler than it's ever been, his eyes dark and haunted, and every few seconds, shudders ripple across his skin, made all the more noticeable because of the fact that he's not wearing a shirt.
When she finishes with the ride in the elevator, holding the doors together, Percy quietly explains the nightmares they've been having ever since, and then about the pain attacks that he's been having.
"When I killed that arai before leaving, it gave me some sort of pain curse. At the time, I didn't think much of it, and the pain faded as we got closer to the surface. But ever since then, the pain comes back unexpectedly, and it's worse every time." He tells the others, staring off into the distance, unable to look at them.
Annabeth glances to the window, and is surprised to see the darkening sky-they've been talking for hours. Although that explains why her voice is raspy and dry and she feels as if she's been gargling firewater from the Phlegethon.
The others are all staring at them in disbelief, eyes wide and mouths agape. Frank is the only one who seems to understand in the least, and he's looking at them with a new, knowing look that gives Annabeth a sense of relief.
Leo is the first one of the others to recover from the story, and he closes his mouth and shakes his head in incredulity before looking empathetically at Annabeth and Percy.
Jason and Piper sort of cling to each other for a bit, murmuring disbelieving comments under their breath to each other, seemingly unable to grasp the enormity of what Annabeth and Percy went through. They do, though, after a few minutes-or at least they manage to grasp the concept of it, to realize that their friends went through more than they ever will.
Hazel has tears in her golden eyes, and just seems infinitely sad that they had to go through Tartarus at all.
Percy, to Annabeth's surprise, is the one who finally breaks the silence.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm hungry." He tells them, making an effort to smile-it wavers, but it's there. "I say we go get massive amounts of junk food and sugar-filled, cavity-causing snacks from the galley and come back here to eat them together."
There are a few moments of cricket-silence, until Leo, thankfully, comes to the rescue. "Sounds good to me, man. I didn't want to say anything, but I'm starving. Did anyone else hear my stomach?"
"That was you?" Piper asks.
"It wasn't that bad." Hazel says generously. "Remember Annabeth's stomach after we woke up the day the boys were gone?"
Piper laughs out loud. "That was horrible. It sounded like a monster was dying in agony."
Annabeth pretends to glare at them, but she's glad they're working to make the situation lighter-Percy even has the ghost of a smile on his face, and that's so much better than the look that was there before.
"All right, let's go, then." He says, and starts to leave.
"Let's make it a game." Annabeth declares loudly. It'll help lighten the mood. "The person who gathers the most food the fastest, wins."
Leo grins devilishly. "My kind of game."
Annabeth stands, taking Percy's hand and taking a ready stance. "Okay, then-Ready, set...GO!"
Everyone runs out of the room at once, thundering through the halls and down to the galley-the kitchen, although it's more of a pantry, and they never have much of a reason to use it.
Frank and Leo get jammed together in the doorway when they both try to enter at the same time, and Hazel, Jason, and Piper have to shove them through to get inside.
Annabeth and Percy are already rummaging through the cabinets, grabbing their favorites and stuffing things in pockets. It's barely a minute before they're running back down to the infirmary/lounge, laughing, with their arms full of junk food.
They dump their armloads of snacks onto the floor, plopping down next to it and waiting for the others.
They hear a crash from out in the hall, and mixed laughter and cursing. When Hazel walks in, her cheeks are red, her expression is flustered, and her hair is frizzing out majorly from her head, giving the appearance of a fuzzy halo. The others follow close on her heels, and after they're all sitting, Annabeth asks what happened.
"Frank tripped Leo." Hazel explains, shooting a glare at the two boys, who have identical goofy grins. "And then Leo grabbed Jason's ankle, and Piper had been holding Jason's hand, so she went down with him. I was right behind all of them, so I tripped over all of them and fell on top of the pile."
"At least you weren't on the bottom." Leo complains, rubbing his forehead. "I am going to have so many bruises tomorrow."
They sort through the food, everyone grabbing their favorite and settling back to eat. The room's quiet for a few minutes, miraculously-everyone is very serious about their food.
"Hey," Piper suddenly says, "We never sparred."
"Oh, come on." Leo groans. "Are you the teacher's pet that always says we had homework when the teacher actually forgot, for once? Because you seem to be channeling their spirit."
Piper punches him, and he ducks, grinning. Percy throws a Ding Dong at them, grinning and wiggling his eyes at Hazel, and they must have an inside joke about it or something, because she looses it completely. Crying, sides shaking, oxygen-deprived laughter-and then she starts snorting. Loudly.
Frank looks at her in surprise and then grins, and Leo makes a comment about pigs, and Piper punches him again. And Annabeth smiles, because no matter how insane they all might be, they're her friends-her family. She knows them, and they know her, and she doesn't think there has ever been a stronger bond between seven people in all of history.
After an hour of talking and goofing off, when it's pitch black outside, Leo bolts upright and yells, "I CHALLENGE THEE TO A GAME OF TRUTH AND DARE!" And no one blinks an eye.
Annabeth chooses truth, and has to admit to Piper that she's had a crush on Percy ever since she first met him, to which he grins triumphantly and shouts, "I KNEW IT!" before kissing her in front of everyone.
Jason chooses dare, and Leo smirks and tells him he has to let Piper draw a My Little Pony on his arm with permanent marker. Percy, not to be outdone, let Piper do the same to his arm, even though he wasn't dared to do it. Then Leo and Frank both decide, "Hey, what the heck?" and get matching pictures on their arms, letting Piper choose which ones to do.
"I have Pinkie Pie!" Leo exclaims, with the enthusiasm of someone who found a prize in a cereal box.
"No way, man, that's Twilight Sparkle." Percy corrects him. "And I have Rainbow Dash, so I automatically win."
"Frank has Fluttershy!" Hazel calls after inspecting Frank's arm.
"Hazel, how do you know what My Little Pony is?" Piper asks, and Hazel blushes.
"When Nico and I stayed in that hotel, he let me choose the TV channel. I watched a My Little Pony marathon one night, and he watched it with me, too-we stayed up past midnight that night." She explains.
"Which one do you have, Jason?" Annabeth asks, amused.
"Applejack." He answers immediately, and then ducks his head, blushing.
"Percy!" Jason calls. "Truth or dare?"
"Dare." Percy answers, without pausing.
Jason gets a wicked gleam in his eyes. "I dare you to spar with Annabeth."
You could hear a pin drop, the room is so quiet. They all seem to have never thought about Percy and Annabeth fighting each other before, at least not in length.
Percy just shrugs. "Fine with me, as long as Annabeth doesn't mind."
"Oh, I don't mind." Annabeth replies. "It's been a while since we've sparred together. I'd hate to think you're losing your edge because of it."
Percy only grins, and takes Riptide out of his pocket.
Annabeth retrieves her sword, and the others help clear a spot at the edge of the room for them. Annabeth takes a stance opposite Percy, and he stands with Riptide loosely held in one hand, waiting for her attack.
Annabeth stands utterly still for the count of twenty. Then she smiles, doing her best to bring Percy off balance with her looks. He only returns her smile, not falling for it, and Annabeth wistfully recalls a time when she would've already had him beat, just by smiling.
She lunges forward and to his left, aiming a hit at his thigh, but he dodges out of the way easily and she twists to avoid him getting a hit on her back. When she turns to face him again, he's smiling at her, casually twirling Riptide in his grip.
"Seaweed Brain." She mutters, smiling and rolling her eyes.
He attacks first this time, striding confidently forward and slashing freely at her with his sword-if she hadn't blocked it, it would have cut her in half, and she hears Piper gasp at the openness of his attack. But Percy never would have swung like that if he didn't know she could block him-that's the way of their sparring. Vicious circles, around and around they go.
Annabeth knows her best chance of beating him is disarming him-he's a good wrestler, but it's never been his chosen way of fighting. So the next time she gets a shot, she goes for it-down at the hilt, twist sideways-
And he doesn't even try to stop her! He lets the sword go flying out of his hand and to the wall, and she's immediately suspicious, even knowing that his sword will return automatically to his pocket within a few seconds.
He stands there, weaponless, staring directly into her eyes-she freezes, for a moment, because his eyes are so irritatingly hypnotizing-and then he smiles at her, and before she knows it, he's standing with his chest inches from hers, his fingers sliding over hers on the hilt of her sword, and then he's prying it out of her group and casting it to the side, sliding his hand back to lightly grip around her wrist.
"Didn't see that one coming, did you, Wise Girl?" He murmurs, and his lips are way too close to hers for her to be able to concentrate. Since when did he start affecting her like this?
"No." She replies, breathless. "But I bet you didn't see this coming, either." And then she twists around, switching his grip on her to her grip on him, and judo flips him over her shoulder and onto his back.
Before she even places her knee on his chest, he's laughing, truly laughing, and looking up at her with a sparkle in his green eyes that she hasn't seen in far too long a time.
"I win." Annabeth declares, grinning down at him triumphantly.
"Oh, really?" He asks, a mischevious smile spreading across his face, and then he flips her over onto her back, pinning her down with his body-although he places his hands on either side of her head and holds himself up so he doesn't completely crush her.
"I win." He murmurs, his lips brushing hers as he speaks, and then he kisses her, a mind-numbing, blissful kiss, and under normal circumstances she'd let herself get lost in it, but...
She bites down hard on his lip, and he jerks back, a surprised look on his face, before laughing and rolling over so he's laying on his side next to her.
"It's a tie." He tells her, and she nods, smiling in satisfaction. Then she kisses him, letting her hand slip into his, and they only stop when Leo starts hooting and Frank clears his throat uncomfortably.
"Have either of you ever won against each other?" Piper asks, glancing between them.
Annabeth and Percy share a brief glance, and they simultaneously shrug. "Not really. Not since before the Titan War, and we rarely sparred together back then."
They drop the subject after that, and they take their places back in the middle of the room.
They play a game of Monopoly, during which Hazel entertains herself by moving the pieces around the board when no one's watching, and Piper charmspeaks herself out of jail, and they run out of fake money and hotels because Leo keeps making things with them; Percy complains that there are no swimming pools or beaches on the board, so much so that Annabeth finally sticks a sticky note over one of the squares with "BEACH" written on it in big, bold letters. Jason accidentally shocks Hazel when Piper buys the place he was going to, and her hair looks like she stuck her finger in a light socket from then on. Frank gets really upset that there's no Canada or even a mention of Canada anywhere on the board and starts ranting and shouting about stupid board games and how everyone always forgets about Canada.
Annabeth, of course, bankrupts everyone and ends up with all the money, winning the game.
Then Leo somehow manages to set up an Xbox, projecting it onto the wall, and puts in Just Dance. Percy and Piper play against each other, and somehow end up tying-they also both set high scores that nobody else could beat, thanks to their competitive spirits. Then they collapse on a couch together while the others fight over who goes next, and Annabeth watches them quietly from her place next to the Xbox console.
Piper props her feet up on the coach next to Percy, wearing purple fuzzy socks, and Percy looks down at them and wrinkles his nose.
"You're feet stink." He tells her, and she grins at him, raising up her foot and putting it against his face, shoving his head over sideways.
"Stooooop." He complains, and she giggles.
In revenge, Percy grabs her ankle and starts tickling the bottom of her foot, refusing to let go even when she accidentally kicks him in the head while laughing. Annabeth smiles, watching them-they act so much like brother and sister that it's impossible not to think of them as siblings.
Leo's the first to pass out, crashing from his sugar high so hard that he ends up draped across the floor and several of the beanbags, sugar and chocolate still crusted around his lips. And, of course, still wearing that pink dress-which made his turn at Just Dance a hundred times more entertaining. Piper follows soon after, falling asleep in an awkward position against one of the chairs. Jason picks her up and carries her over to the coach closest to where Leo is, and when he finally passes out himself, it's on the couch with her, although he lays with his head at the opposite end from hers.
Frank and Hazel curl together in one of the sleeping bags, Hazel with her back curved to fit against him, and her knees tucked up to her chest.
Annabeth sits with her back against the wall, where she has the best view of all of them, and Percy comes over and lays on his side with his head in her lap. She starts running her fingers through his hair, and he closes his eyes, obviously enjoying it.
"Percy," she whispers. "Look at this." She gazes, part wistfully, part hopefully, over at the others-Jason and Piper sleeping together on the couch, Frank and Hazel sleeping together in the sleeping bag with their heads right next to Piper, the way Leo rolled in his sleep and now has his arm draped over Hazel and Frank while a trail of drool and steady snoring is emitted from him... "We have a family."
Percy opens his eyes and smiles. "Yeah." He says softly. "I guess we do."
They finally drag themselves over and pull a pile of sleeping bags and pillows over next to the others, propping the pillows against Jason and Piper's couch for a nice headrest. Annabeth cuddles with her head on Percy's chest, listening to the reassuring, steady sound of his heartbeat, and he absentmindedly twirls his fingers through her hair, his eyes far away.
Annabeth glances one last time at the sleeping demigods all around her, thinking, I have a family. And then she closes her eyes, and with the gentle, rhythmic feeling of Percy's fingers playing with her hair, she finally falls into a deep, sweet sleep, filled only with dreams of family and friends and sunlight.
A few of the sections in this chapter were based off of headcanons or pictures of the Seven I came across on the internet, so thanks to the fangirls of Tumblr and such who gave me the inspiration for it.
I love you, punch an owl for Annabeth (don't actually, please, owls are too cute to get punched), remember that cookies are the cure (they make you happy), and try not to strangle anyone before the next time I update, 'kay? ;)