Suddenly, I was hanging on a thin latch of stone. "You can't pull me up" Annabeth said. "Just let me go" "Remember what we said? You're not getting away from me. Never again" I let go of the ledge and together, we fell.
While Tartarus had definitely contained some cute moments, my dreams luckily skipped over them and instead of the river Cocytus, we landed on the grass in front of the house of Hades. A few meters away from us, UPS disappeared with the statue. The rest of the seven climbed back aboard the Argo II, seemingly having silently decided to give the two of us a moment. For a few minutes, we just sat there in the grass. Simply feeling the sun on my face and the grass under my hand was all I needed right now. Oh, and how could I forget about Annabeth? She was the first to break the silence. "We made it. We actually made it. Can you believe that?" For the first time in way too long, Annabeth laughed. I had forgotten how nice that sounded. After a moment, I joined in
"This might sound weird, but have you ever seen someone let someone let a puppy outside and it decides that grass is just the coolest schist on the planet? Because if I had the lung capacity to do more than walking slowly, I'd act like that puppy" "Absolutely relatable. So, how are you feeling?" "Super schisty in absolute terms, in relation to the last two days I feel absolutely amazing. Like, breathing is only mildly painful. If I'm lucky, I might even be able to go for a few hours without flashbacks" "That does sound great. In relative terms. I know you said you didn't want to remember it yet..." I waited for Annabeth to respond. "You may continue" "But the poison situation, is everything alright between us?" "I will likely never see you the same again, but that applies to a bunch of other stuff as well. Come a little closer. A lot actually, if you don't mind" I moved over until I was right next to Annabeth. "I don't feel threatened. If anything, I feel safer now, so it's alright. But maybe from now on I'll be a bit more careful about telling you what you might be able to do" "Do what makes you feel safe" A crow landed next to us. I realized it was the first non-mythical creature I'd seen since the fall. "We actually made it out" I said. "I know. I just said that five minutes ago" "Don't act like you didn't want to hear it" "You know me too well seaweed brain" The crow started inspecting my burger, so I gave it a piece. "Fun fact: crows remember who was nice to them. Maybe he'll get his friends now and they'll demand to have all of the burger" "Then I guess we should leave now" "Yeah" "First at the river wins" We ran down the hill and jumped into the water. Instantly, I felt my strength returning. I hadn't felt this good since about the time I'd made the Cocytos explode, but it broke my heart to know the water wouldn't help Annabeth like it did me, but at least I could cheer her up with a kiss.
When I looked into her eyes, I saw a glimmer of hope. A hope that we'd recover. A hope that we'd win this war. After all we'd been through, Annabeth still wouldn't give up and I loved her for that.
Next, I was sitting on my bed on the Argo II again when someone knocked at the door. "Come in Annabeth" She opened the door. "How'd you know it was me?" "Your specific knocking pattern" "I'm the one who analyzes" "I think we ruined the atmosphere. Let's try that again" Annabeth left the room and knocked again. "Come in" I said. Annabeth opened the door and I got up. "Hey, how's it going" I asked. Instead of answering, she came over and gave me a hug.
"Not so great I'm assuming" I said. Annabeth just hugged me even tighter. I realized that this was the point she needed me most. Annabeth still wasn't very good at dealing with her own emotions, I was a sort of outlet for her. She would often bottle stuff up until she got to see me again, which was probably indicative of an unhealthy level of codependency, but we were working on it. A small shiver went through her entire body. I had no idea what she and Piper had experienced, but it must have been horrible. "I feel like this is gonna take a while to get through so why don't we sit down?" Annabeth just nodded, so we did. That of course prevented us from hugging, so I put an arm around her shoulder. She was leaned against me. Annabeth reached for the blanket and put it over our shoulders. "Good Idea wise girl. Want to talk about what happened?" Annabeth pointed at her wrist, where her watch would have been. "Need a bit to calm down? I mean, I can feel your heart beat just from sitting next to you, so you're probably not very calm" Annabeth nodded once again. We just sat there cuddling for a few minutes.
"I think I can start now" "Whenever you're ready" "Okay, first off all: that was intense. I was panicking too much to talk. I don't think it's gotten this bad, outside of a flashback, in quite a while" "I mean, it might have been a flashback. Like, an emotional one" "could be" "Did you come to me right away?" I asked, just to get a sense of how long Annabeth had been repressing her emotions for. "I grabbed a snack first because that place was really scary" "What do these two things have to do with each other?" "Experiencing fear requires a lot of energy. For example, watching the shining burns 184 calories, which is almost half a chocolate bar. What I saw was significantly worse than the shining. I'll be lucky if I get through this in one sitting" "I might be able to cause some good luck, if you know what I mean" "Do it" I gave Annabeth a kiss. "Better now?" "Yeah, I guess that did the trick. Are you ready?" "Yeah" "Okay, so there were these holes in the ground…
…Which was like the dumbest risk I've ever seen anyone take" "Including me?" "Including you, seaweed brain" "How dare Piper steal my title" "I have a feeling she might try to steal a lot more from you soon" "What do you mean?" "I'd ask her personally"
"So, Piper took a dumb risk. What happened then?" "I attached a rope to the top and followed her down… …and then a giant appeared and told us that it was in fact a temple of fear and that he was gonna make us believers. Okay, this is where the really bad part starts. I might need a proper hug for this" "Sure, but remember, only do what you feel ready for" "Of course. But I think I can take it" "Are you absolutely sure?" "Don't worry. Just hold me tight and I'll manage" I pulled her into a hug. "So, this giant could apparently channel fear. He was Mimas by the way" "Who was that again?" Annabeth laughed. "He's the anti-Hephaistos. Destroyer of machines. Want to know the worst part?" "Okay" "His presence, along with making me too scared to think a clear thought, prevented all plans from working. And you know what happens when I don't have a plan" "You handle the situation in a less than extraordinary way?" "Exactly. That was honestly kind of scary" "Wasn't that the whole point of the temple?" "It was probably not intended to make me so scared that my cognitive abilities decrease enough for that to be scary as well" "Probably not. What matters is that you don't need to be scared now" "So, I was telling you about Mimas, or was it Phobos and Deimos? Those are the fear gods after all, and we were in their temple, so it was likely them. Well, maybe Mimas somehow channeled their power. I'm talking too much again, aren't I?" "If analyzing helps you cope, go do it" "I just don't want to annoy you" "Annabeth, I'm doing this to make you feel better. How could I ever be bored while doing that?" "I guess that makes sense" "Of course it makes sense. I said it" "I'd make a mean comment, but I don't have the mental capacity for any sort of hostility" "Just hugs?" "Just hugs" I would have embraced right then and there, but I was already doing that so I couldn't. Instead, I squeezed her hand a few times. Annabeth seemed to calm down a bit. "I keep interrupting myself. So, Mimas was showing me things I didn't exactly want to see. Remember when you saw that experiment with the hydraulic press and the glass bottle and the bottle reminded you of Gabe, the cracks in the glass reminded you of the labyrinth and the press reminded you of the sky and you had three flashbacks more or less at the same time?" "It's among my top ten worst school lessons ever. Why are you asking?" "That, multiplied by two or three, is what the temple was like for me" "Oh, that sounds bad. Also, next time maybe warn me before bringing up stuff like that" "I'm so sorry" "It's alright. Just remember it for next time" "I'll try my best" "So, basically a bunch of flashbacks mushed together" "It was all of my worst memories" I felt a shiver going through her entire body, so I hugged her tighter. "Good thing hugs aren't a trigger for me. Otherwise, I don't know how I would deal with pretty much anything trauma related" "Same for me. I wonder what would need to happen for that to become a trigger" "Probably someone who was previously very close betraying me. Oh, wait" "Probably not close enough" "Could be. I keep getting sidetracked from the story. So, I was getting all of my worst memories thrown back at me. I think it started with the spiders. And it didn't exactly get better after that. I think I got the Cyclops next, then Thalia died. I think that was the first wave" "Annabeth, are you okay?" "I haven't been okay for a very long time, but I'm coping" "Just remember that you can stop whenever you want" "I know. But still, thanks for letting me know" "Anytime wise girl" "So, this temple was like a maze of different chambers. And it was so dark I though I was blind. I feel like that's happened before, but I can't think of when" "But Annabeth, you always remember everything" "I forget the really traumatic stuff sometimes. It's probably a protective mechanism. Do you know what I'm remembering?" "Do you remember when you evaded Polyphemus using invisibility?" "Yeah" "Well, he cursed you to be unable to see your enemies. That curse became a reality for a while" "When?" Annabeth asked. I looked down at the ground. That was all I needed to say. "So, you were saying the temple made you feel blind" "Yes. I couldn't see the giant. I had no idea where to attack. That might have been the worst part. When we finally came back into the light, he sent the second wave. It started with the spiders. Mechanical ones this time" "Love tunnel?"
"Those ones. Next was I think the palace of Hades, when you got out the pearls. That might have been the worst part of the whole quest" "Why? It was the moment we were saved" "Three pearls, four people. It was the first time that leaving me behind would have actually meant an advantage to the success of the quest. I had done my part, so why wouldn't you leave me" I noticed that Annabeth was crying, so I did my best to comfort her "You thought that? I never knew. I'd never abandon you like that" "Good. So, once that was over, we did some more stabbing. He told us how strong he was and that in the first giant war, he had to also cover Damasen's job because 'that fool' couldn't do it himself" "Let me guess, that pissed you off so much that you defeated him" "Not quite, but I did distract him long enough for Piper to cut his ear off" Annabeth laughed for just a second or two, but she was laughing. "Then I asked Piper why she wasn't completely overwhelmed by fear and she told me something about not fighting it which didn't really make sense to me. Also, she was doing this…" Annabeth pressed her forehead against mine and cupped my face with her hands. "…which was kind of distracting. Have I ever mentioned how pretty her eyes are?" "I don't think so, but it's not really relevant, is it?" "Not really. Anyways, the third big wave came. It was spiders again. This time it was the spiders in Arachne's cave and you know what happened there. Then I think I got a lot of scenes from down there, but the dissociative amnesia made me forget most of that again. Okay, what's next?" She thought about it for a few seconds, then suddenly pushed me away from her and stumbled back onto the bed. "What is it?" I asked, but I already knew. "How can you do such a thing?" She demanded "There are things that just shouldn't be controlled" Seeing Annabeth scared always hurt me, but at least I could usually make her feel better, so it was bearable, but seeing her scared of me was truly horrible.
Of course, her opinion hadn't just permanently changed, but I knew that I'd have a hard time getting through to her now. Of course I could try, but that might put her under additional stress, so I went for a different option. When I turned to leave, Annabeth didn't protest, which just went to show how scared of me she really was. I left my room and crossed the corridor to where Piper's room was. I knocked on the door. "Come in" I did. "Oh, hi Percy. What brings you here?" "Has Annabeth told you about Achlys yet?" "Just yesterday" "Good. I think she's stuck in that moment right now and I can't help her because I'm the one she's scared of" "I'll try if I can do something"