Percy and I had decided to meet at his house at twelve and then he'd take over the Annabeth delivery service. I just hoped I'd actually find a taxi at the peak of Long Island. As I was walking towards the swords practice area (having a sword, especially one so light it is easy to swing in one hand, and a knife opened up many new possibilities, so for once there was actually something I had potential to get better in) when I felt something cold behind me. Turning around, I saw Nico who must have shadow traveled behind me. "I heard that you need to get to Manhattan today." He said, completely out of the blue. I confirmed it. "Well, I happen to have to go there as well today. It doesn't matter when, so we can start whenever you want." Sometimes life is nice to you at the most surprising times. In the practice area I met Piper, who was also practicing fighting with a sword and a dagger at the same time. A short battle determined that a lighter sword was superior to a heavier one if it was used in combination with another weapon.
"Have you noticed that my dagger is the only weapon used by the seven that isn't special? You have a dagger with prophetic powers and a sword that freezes enemies. Jason has a spear-sword-combo. Frank and Hazel are the only Romans I know of who use a bow or a cavalry sword. Percy's sword once belonged to Heracles and Leo is the only person I know who uses a hammer. And I just have a regular dagger" "Wasn't your dagger once subject of a prophecy?" "It actually was. The heroes soul cursed blade shall reap. That line referred to my dagger. And it killed Kronos so actually I think it deserves a place with the other special weapons." "That makes sense, now prepare to lose" I had been so busy analyzing the backstories and/or rarities of our weapons that I hadn't even noticed Piper sneaking behind me. Now I turned around just quickly enough to see but not prevent her from hitting me with Chione's sword. A thin coating of ice formed on my skin. It was unnaturally cold. "Are you giving us now?" Piper asked. The coldness engulfed my entire body apart from my face. An image flashed in my mind. A black line curving through a dark surface. "You might as well." Piper said. Then, most certainly without meaning to, she said the worst possible thing in that situation. "It's hopeless for you anyways" And then a few seconds later "Annabeth, are you okay?" "Not really. I might have a flashback." Piper gave me a concerned look and stepped closer to me to…
Piper
"Not really. I might have a flashback" That didn't sound good. I stepped right in front of her, ready to catch her in case she'd loose her balance during the flashback. Then I noticed that my sword was still on her side, spreading ice. I ripped it free from the ice lump growing at its blade. I knew that the remaining ice would be stable for a few more seconds, so I ran and got two decapitated straw dummies to sit her down on. Once she was thawed it became obvious that standing upright was her least concern right now and I could only help her land on the straw dummies rather than on the ground. That was also the time that I started talking about how she was safe and everything, hoping it would help her out of the flashback. I didn't know if I was to credit for it, but Annabeth seemed to regain enough awareness of the real world to sit without falling over. For several minutes I anxiously watched her until- believe it or not- she suddenly started laughing. "Really, surfing? A Male sounding voice said. Then she- I should probably say he now- he looked at me. "Who are you? " I asked. "I'm Annabeth, you've known me for ages" maybe he didn't know that I knew about my friend's disorder. "I know about Annabeth's alters, you can trust me. In fact, I am the one who diagnosed her." "Oh, in that case, I'm Chris, trauma holder." I sat down next to him. He looked a little shaken but generally okay. "And you're Piper, right?" I confirmed that. I leaned a bit closer but not without asking if he was okay with it. "Sure, physical contact always helps after a flashback." "That's interesting because I've heard that traumatized people often have a problem with physical contact" "Many traumatized people have predominantly sexual trauma, aka trauma from being touched or worse against their will, so it would make sense for them to dislike it but most of us have no problem with it. And even if I didn't want you close to me, you still owe me a few degrees of body temperature." This was probably the weirdest debt I had ever had, but I repaid it with a hug. I could feel his body warm up and relax a bit. "Mental and thermal stability achieved." Chris said after a few minutes and let go of me.
"Did I ever tell you how good you are at dealing with me having flashbacks? Your charm speak made it a lot less bad." "May I ask what the flashback was?" "Kokytos, the river of despair. Basically a bunch of voices telling me to give up and that everything is pointless. Also it was cold. So cold." He shivered just thinking about it. I suddenly realized something. "I'm so sorry." "Sorry for what?" "As you might have noticed, I used my sword to freeze you. But, being certain I had won, I also told you to give up and that the situation was hopeless for you." "And now you're feeling guilty for creating the perfect conditions for a flashback." I nodded. "It's okay. It's the intent that counts. Or rather the lack of intent. Honestly, talking to me can be like Russian roulette except you can choose between a hundred guns and only some of them have one bullet in them and it's almost impossible to tell which ones. I don't blame you. Oh, someone just told me I have to be somewhere soon, but I have no idea where or when. We seriously need to work on our internal communication." "You wanted to meet Percy at twelve at his place. That's ninety minutes from now. I think you said something about Nico wanting to shadow travel you there." "Thanks, what would I do without you?" "I don't know. Ready for round two?" "Sure, but don't freeze me again" "I'll try my best"
We kept fighting and this time I was coming out on top. When fighting with Annabeth, I had had the problem that a heavy sword on its own could beat a light one, but was hard to handle in combination with a knife. On the other hand, Annabeth had been using a knife, which hadn't prevented her from using her light sword and defending myself against her two blades was difficult if I only had one. Tl;dr: I was better at sword combat (or at least my sword was better suited), Annabeth was better at sword+knife combat and the latter was easier to enforce so Annabeth usually defeated me. Of course I could have just told her not to use the knife since charm speak affected her very strongly, but that felt like cheating.
Anyways, unlike Annabeth, Chris obviously had no experience with dual wielding, so we stuck to swords only and I won. If all it took for me to win was for me to trigger Annabeth then maybe I should not do that more often because intentionally triggering someone traumatically for your own benefit is absolutely terrible, it's like kicking someone's knees because you knew they had weak legs and would fall over, simply because they were blocking your view. After a few more battles I checked my watch and noticed there were only 7 minutes left until twelve o'clock. "It's almost twelve, time to find Nico" "Does he know about our DID yet?" "Not yet. I'll just tell him you just had a flashback and he won't question anything." Chris agreed. We found Nico at the Apollo cabin (I don't know why he spends so much time there, but I have my suspicions).
"Hey Nico, I heard you wanted to take Annabeth to Manhattan." "I wouldn't say I want to, I'm just doing it on account of the fact that not doing it would be kind of mean and also she'd be upset and Annabeth's scary when she's upset." "Anyways, Percy's expecting her in about ninety seconds. Oh, and she's just had a flashback so she's still a bit, uh" I couldn't really think of a word to describe what state I wanted Nico to think Annabeth/Chris was in. "I know what you mean. That place sucked. Ready Annabeth?" Chris nodded. Nico reached for his hand and they disappeared into the shadows.
Percy
Annabeth had told me that she'd be here at twelve. That was in five minutes. I checked whether I had everything I needed for the trip. I did not. A quick glance at the oven told me that the cookies would be done in four minutes. I ran through my room and the bathroom putting all my stuff into my bag. One minute left. The oven timer went off and I pulled out the cookie tray, making sure to create water on my hands to prevent burns. Now there were only fifteen seconds left until the decided time. I actually got a bit excited at the prospect that Annabeth might be late for the first time in her life. Given that there were just eight seconds left, the chances were not bad. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
Shadows filled the room and Annabeth and Nico appeared. "Hey Percy, I'm just here to deliver Annabeth. You can go do your straight couple stuff, I'll be on my way to return a dead dog I stole. Oh, and Piper said that Annabeth just had a flashback so do whatever that means you have to do." He then vanished in a cloud of darkness. "Hi Annabeth, you okay? I asked. "Hi, I'm Chris. And the part about the recent flashback was kind of a lie that we told Nico so he wouldn't question why I sounded like a boy and why I barely knew him. I did have one though, but that was more like one and a half hours ago." "Chris? That's the piña-" "could y'all please stop calling me the piña coladas guy? But yes, I am that guy. I'm out since Piper caused me to have a flashback." "Piper did what?" "Don't worry, it was an accident. She froze me, or technically she froze Annabeth, with her ice sword and then told me to give up because in that situation there was no point to even try. Not an ideal combination of sensory inputs for someone who's been in the river Kokytos. So this caused a flashback and I fronted." Okay, in case you didn't know, we wanted to stay with your dad's family for the next two days. I see you have your stuff ready." "I got everything. At least I hope so because I personally did not participate in packing this bag. But I should have everything I need." "Then I guess once I packed the blue cookies for your family we can leave. Or actually, it'd be faster if you did that while I get our vessel ready. Chris nodded and I left to go to the river.
When I had last gone home from camp a few days ago, I had taken the princess Andromeda's lifeboat with me. Once in Manhattan I had sunken the boat and covered it in mud. Now I pushed all that mud away and the boat rose back to the surface and then even higher until it was level with the sidewalk. I got into the boat and floated back to our apartment on thin layer of water. Once there I unlocked the door and went inside. "Chris, are you ready? I asked" "One sec" About a minute later, he came to the back into the living room. We both said good bye to my mom before grabbing our bags and leaving. "As a good boyfriend, I of course cannot expect my girlfriend, or anyone else within her body, to walk to the boat which is why I brought it with me." I announced as I opened the door, revealing the life boat standing in front of our door. We got in and I deployed the rain and splash protection I had added to it. Okay, added is an overstatement. I actually just repaired the one it had already had. Then, we got moving. "How is it moving so smoothly?" Chris asked. "The boat is supported by a thin layer of water. When we face a curb, the water collects at the ends of the boat to stabilize it."
"I like that idea. And it appears to be working flawlessly." "Like all of my ideas. Fine, all my boat related ideas." "I know this is a bit random right now, but being a Male alter in the body of a girl is really annoying. I mean, usually I can just ignore it, but do you know what really sucks?" "Periods?" "Well, that too, luckily I've never had to deal with that. I just meant going to the toilet in general. You just…" he kept talking about dysphoria for like two more minutes, until we reached the river. "Well then, let's get this thing up to speed. I felt a slight tingling as our matter partially became part of the water around us and we accelerated.
I believe that one day, the time will come that I post a chapter on time. But at least I have an excuse this time, namely that I wasn't home until 9:30 yesterday, so I didn't really have time to proofread and publish the chapter. Anyways, I'll try my best to get the next one out on time. Maybe I'll prepare it tomorrow so on Sunday, I'll just have to publish it. See you then