Chapter Text
12 years old
Percy found it a week after he and Annabeth had met.
They were walking down an abandoned sidewalk in lower Manhattan when a car zoomed past them down the street, a beat up newspaper rolled over his feet.
Percy paused. He looked down at his feet before picking up the News Paper.
Who even reads newspapers anymore? He thought, but none the less he turned the paper onto the first page and tried to read what was on the front cover. Although, when he did, he was shocked at what he read.
His eyes widened and looked up from where he stood, Annabeth had gotten half way down the block, he sighed and called out to her.
"Annabeth!" He yelled as he started the jog down the block, dodging the puddles of mysterious liquid.
Annabeth turned back the moment he caught up, panting next to her.
"What?" She asked, her eyebrows tilted up in confusion as Percy handed her the news paper.
Annabeth looked down at it and carefully read the front page, her face turning from confused to irritated.
It read:
'Missing Child investigation of 7
year old Annabeth Chase still under investigation as of 2004.
The neighbors of the 7 now 12 year old Annabeth Chase are still worried about the young girl as she mysteriously disappeared in the middle of the night on June 3rd, 1998, from her home in Virginia.
If you find her, please contact your local Police Station.
Name: Annabeth Chase
Ethnicity: African American
Race: Black
Date of Disappearance: June 3rd, 1998
Age of Disappearance: Seven years and eleven months
Age as of Now: Twelve years and five months
Annabeth read it over a few times before ripping it up and throwing the torn peices of paper on the ground. The wind that had picked up, making the peices flow effortlessly down the street.
Percy watched as the ripped peices of paper fly down the road before looking at Annabeth.
"You've been on the run since you were seven?"
Annabeth sighed through her nose, crossing her arms against her chest, "Yes."
"And you've been out here the entire time?" He asked, rubbing his arms with his hands, this cold was seriously bothering him!
Annabeth made a face that Percy could tell that she was uncomfortable, she looked around to make sure no one was around before turning to Percy.
"Could we go somewhere else? A little bit less out in the open?"
Percy nodded, his head tilted in the opposite direction, "Yeah, sure, Central Park is right now the next block, we could go where all the trees are."
Annabeth nodded and started walking again, in the direction to where his head tilted towards.
He hand only known Annabeth for a week, but he had already picked up on some of her habits. Like how's she's always willing to take a risk, but always goes for the more tactical side of it. She never let anything get in her way (with an exception of spiders). She always had this aura around her that she is as smart as someone would think. Always six steps ahead of everyone else.
She knew how to approach a situation with or without context. Always calm and collected.
She never let her emotions get the best of her.
Catching up to her, they made their way down the block towards Central Park.
___
For a Saturday afternoon in Manhattan, you would think that Central Park of all places in New York, would be Hella crowded. Nope! Maybe because it looked like it was about to rain, or because it felt like if you were to step outisde, you would get hypothermia, could be either one.
Even the hotdog stand guy that Percy befriend when he would vist Central Park before he met Annabeth wasn't there!
They made their way across the park and into the abundance of trees more towards the back of the park.
Annabeth still walked in front of him, walking deeper into the trees, looking for a good spot.
She randomly paused and looked around, possibly making sure no one was there before sitting down on a rock, gesturing him to sit as well.
Percy sat on the rock opposite of her and looked at her sadly, "The hotdog guy isn't there." He said with a pout.
Annabeth tilted her head, "Huh?"
"The hod dog guy- that's usually there...selling hotdogs." He said awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck.
"...oh." She said mindlessly.
Percy adjusted himself on the rock, then realized they were getting off topic from what they were in the Central Park 'woods' for.
"So...you've been on the run since you were seven." He stated, noting the way Annabeth tensed, "Why?" He asked gently, not pressuring her to say anything she didn't want to.
Annabeth sighed, "You know about my family, how they weren't the best family." Percy nodded, she had told him about that the first day they met.
"Well," she continued, "Since I was a 'problem', according to my wicked stepmother, they never payed attention to me, even when I was seriously injured, or just hurt."
"What do you mean by that?" Percy asked.
"Once, when I was six, there was a bug infestation of spiders in my room back in my house in Virginia." Annabeth paused, "Not only did I tell Helen that there was spiders in my room, I also showed her the spider bites on my arm."
She rolled up her jacket and shirt sleeve up and Percys eyes widened at what he saw. Tiny bits all along her left arm. From her wrist, all the way up to her bicep.
"I don't know if they were poisonous or what, but they never fully healed."
"What did your dad do?"
"Nothing, that's the problem," she said, "this went all the way up until I was seven. One night, the spiders were everywhere, biting me, over and over again. I screamed for my dad, but Helen answered. Telling me that I was disrupting her family and that I was a disgrace."
"So, that night, I packed my stuff and left."
Percy nodded, "You said you were originally from Virginia, how'd you end up in New York?"
Annabeth smiled sadly, "After a couple weeks on the run at seven, I met these two kids, Thaila and Luke, also runaways like us. Luke promised me that they wouldn't leave me like everyone else they would protect me. Like a family."
Percy smiled, "That's really sweet."
"Yeah, it was." She said, but then her face hardened, "Until it wasn't."
"Two months into my new family, we were in Connecticut, and Thaila's father found her and manipulated her into coming home with him." She paused again, shaking her head, "Luke and I continued on, but he had started saying some weird things. Then, one night, he randomly left. And I have no idea what could've happened."
Percy was stunned, this poor girl had people leaving her left and right, "Annabeth...I am so sorry."
Annabety shrugged, "It's okay. It's fate, right?" She laughed lightly, "What about you? You have any other crazy lore I should know about?"
He did. Gods did he still have things to tell her. He had told her about Gabe a couple days after they met. But he never told her the worse part, their 'guy secret'."
"Yeah actually." He said, taking a deep breath, "When Gabe first married by mom, he was nice at first, you know that. But then I realized that he had been abusing my mom. So, like any kid that loves their mom I took the hits without my mom knowing." Percy sighed "Gabe called it our 'Guy Secret'. If I told anyone, he would beat the light out of me."
His eyes were watering now, he tried to blink them away, but they fell anyway.
Annabeth was not an affectionate person, like at all. So when she got up from her rock to hugged him, he almost lost it.
He hugged her back, burying his head into her shoulder.
"Looks like we both have fucked up lives huh?" She joked lightly, Percy nodded, laughing slightly.
They stayed there until late nightfall. It had gotten chiller, so Annabeth had started a bonfire with the extra firewood in her backpack.
They sat next to eachother on the rock Percy had been sitting on, staring at the fire as the flames flickered in the air in silence.
"I promised my mom I would come back," Percy said, "In the note I wrote her."
"Are you going to keep your promise?" Annabeth asked, looking over at him.
He hesitated. He loved his mom so so much. He already put her through so much. And then he just left randomly, leaving her with just a crappy note and a shitty husband.
His mom is strong, he knows that. But, why would he go back to someone who he hurt over and over again?
"I don't know." He admitted, "I left her, that was my own personal decision.... How could I just leave her like that?"
Annabeth shrugged, "I'm not going to pretend I know what you're going through. Because I don't. But, even though I've only known that for a month, I know you wouldn't have left her if there wasn't a reason."
Percy smiled, "Thank you."
Annabeth nodded. They probably would've gotten deeper into the conversation if it weren't for a twig snapping from behind one of the trees.
Annabeth looked behind her and pulled her knife from her pant leg and stood up, facing the direction of the sound.
"Who's there!?" She asked.
They heard footsteps approaching, Percy quickly stood up and went to Annabeths side. Watching as a silhouette of a taller person came into view.
"Why are you kids trust passing?" The silhouette asked, stepping closer and closer.
"Trust passing?" Annabeth echoed. "How is it Trust passing when it's public property with no fencing or signs?"
The silhouette paused, only for a second, "Ooh, feisty aren't we?" A man's voice, Percy realized, "The park closed over an hour ago. I don't know when or how you kids snuck in, but it's time you leave."
"The park doesn't close until one a.m," Annabeth said, looking down at her watch, "And right now it's only eleven-thirty."
"It's closed early today for Thanksgiving." The man tried, stepping closer, Percy and Annabeth backed up.
"Thanksgiving isn't until next week and the park is open daily from six a.m to one a.m, three hundred and sixty-five days a year."
"Don't play smart with me, little girl."
Annabeths face hardened. Percy saw her hand tighten on the hilt of her dagger.
"Make. Me."
Percy saw the guy pull out sometime from his pocket, something big.
He thought it was something harmless until he heard something load like a gun.
Percy's eyes widened even more as the guy stepped closer into the light as he leveled the gun.
"Percy..." Annabeth said warily, backing up more. Percy looked over at her for a split second, "run.'
So that's what he did, he quickly grabbed his bag from the ground and ran out of the abundantly of trees, he could hear Annabeths footsteps behind him.
"Hey! Get back here!" The man screamed, running after them.
Percy ran down the grassy hills, it was so dark that he could barely see where he was even running. He turned his head slightly to see where Annabeth was, and she, for once, was lagging behind.
He debated on continued running or going back to grab Annabeth, but his loyalty won over.
He quickly ran back to her, grabbing her left hand, luckily, her dagger was in her right hand, so his hand didn't get impaled.
"What are you doing!?" Annabeth yelled at him as he pulled her down the hill.
"Saving your butt!" He said, "You were lagging behind and he was so close to you!"
Annabeth didn't say anything in response, Percy threaded his arm through hers and continued running.
They got to the concrete while the man with the gun was still a good ways up the hill.
They ran the rest of the way through the park until a new voice Percy hadn't heard before joined in snd started yelling, too.
"Hey! Chase, yeah you didn't think I'd remember that face did ya!?" The other voice yelled.
Percy tried to continue running, but Annabeth froze, looking in the direction of the man who yelled her name.
She had the wary face she had earlier, eyebrows furrowed, mouth turned in a frown.
"Annabeth!" He said urgently, tugging on her arm, but she was frozen. He looked at the guy who was chasing them with a gun and the new guy, who were both running in their direction.
"Come on, Annabeth! They're coming!" His yelled. That seemed to snap her out of her trance. She quickly turned around and bolted towards the sidewalk, dragging Percy with her.
They ran onto the sidewalk and across the street between 5th and Lexington Avenue, making a yellow taxi swerve on of their way.
Perct could vaguely hear the 2 men chasing them, yelling at them to stop. They didn't stop.
They ran down the street and made a right at the corner further away from central park. They kept their arms interlocked at their elbows so whoever was in front of dragging the other person down the street.
Percy panted as they got further away from the two men. They ran until they reached an abandoned parking lot a few blocks away, of what he assumed was an old Mall.
He paused to hear the men's voice, he didn't. He sighed wity relief before falling on the ground of the parking lot, breathing heavily.
He could Annabeth next to him, her footsteps gently pacing back and forth.
They stayed like that for a while in silence. Percy laying on the ground, his eyes closed and Annabeth above him pacing restlessly.
"Why'd you freeze up?" Percy asked, opening his eyes to look up at her. She didn't seem to hear him because they just continued to pace over and over again.
"Annabeth!" He called, still nothing. He got up from his spot on the ground and over to where Annabeth was pacing and blocked her path. She tried to turn around but Percy grabbed onto her arms so she wouldn't.
"Nope." He said, keeping her arms at her sides with his hands, "Calm down, breathe."
She took a couple deep breaths, following Percys instructions
After she calmed down her asked again.
"Whats the matter?" He asked, l
making her look into his eyes.
"He's been following me since I was seven." She panted out, eyes wide.
"Who?" He asked, "The guy with the gun?"
"No!" She said urgently, "The guy who called my last name and made me freeze up! He's been chasing after me since I was seven, trying to throw me into the system!"
"Oh..."
"Yeah! 'Oh'!" She said, "Watch us be on the news tomorrow because we're twelve year old kids, allegedly trust passing on public property abd put BOTH of our asses in the system!"
Percy brushes her off, no way could they be on the news less than 24 hours after the incident took place, "I think you're overthinking it, no way we'll be on the news tomorrow."
They were on the news the next day. They were in McDonald's waiting online to order, when a news report came on the TV in the corner of the room. Annabeth had convinced Percy to zip up his jacket all the way and lower his hat onto his face more so that people wouldn't recognize them.
The news report showed video footage of last night with Percy and Annabeth running through central park, being chased by the man with the gun. The way the camera was angled and since it was dark, you couldn't see what the man was holding, bug you could tell he was definitely holding something threatening in their direction.
The news report ended with the reporter saying, "If you find these two kids, turn them in to your local Police Station immediately." Percy and Annabeth looked at eachother, both pairs of eyes wide.
Luckily, most people weren't paying attention to the TV. The only one that was, was a very old man sitting a couple feet away from Percy. Hopefully his hearing wasn't all that well.
After timidly ordering and getting their food, they exited the restaurant after agreeing it probably wasn't safe to stay out in public area.
"Welp," Annabeth said, "back to the woods we go."