Chapter Text
Piper happened to be quite satisfied with her life for the first time in years. Slowly progressing each day, she healed a bit from the loss of her two best friends and found comfort in things she thought she would never enjoy again. By her side, never leaving her, stood Annabeth, her loving girlfriend and biggest supporter.
She knew that some were unapproving of her relationship with Annabeth, but for each criticism Annabeth gave her three reasons they were perfect for each other. So, at the end of the day she felt relief in knowing that she had a source of stability. Someone whose arms she could retreat to every night and get wrapped up in. Maybe some thought the relationship was ill-timed or rushed, coming freshly after the deaths of Jason and Leo, but Annabeth always reminded her they didn’t understand the situation. Didn’t see it for what it was or know what they went through.
Her phone buzzed on the table, placed right next to the laptop she currently typed away at. Since the deaths of her bestfriends, she turned to the internet and began a blog where she detailed what things kept her going when things seemed to take a turn for the worst. She had garnered a rather large following, and with that came the repercussions of being in the public eye. An email appeared on the screen from an unknown sender with a link to an article. Usually things like this wouldn’t even be worth her time, but the name on the title caught her eye and made her breath catch in her throat.
“Percy Jackson claims the role of the victim and says he was wrongly convicted. Retrial to happen in the coming weeks.”
She skimmed the article as her stomach began to churn, a nauseating feeling overcoming her. Percy couldn’t possibly have been falsely accused, there was too much evidence against him. Annabeth testified against him and he was her best friend. She would never ruin the life of someone she loves.
Keys turning in the lock of their apartment door brought her back to the real world and she shut the tab quickly. Annabeth walked in the door, bags of groceries cradled in her arms, and pressed a kiss to the top of Piper’s head as she passed. “Hello, beautiful.”
A smile crept slowly onto Piper’s face and the nauseating feeling in her stomach settled at the feeling of Annabeth’s touch. “Hi.” She rose slowly from her seat and moved instinctively towards the kitchen to help unpack the groceries. They worked in coordinated harmony and chatted aimlessly about their days.
“Did you know that Percy is getting a retrial? He swears he was wrongly convicted.” Piper watched the way Annabeth froze at her words, body shutting down for only a split second before she regained her composure. If she hadn’t been watching for a reaction she would have missed it.
“Percy has always been a troublemaker. He’s been causing issues since we were twelve years old. He needs to just grow up and take accountability for what he did. He needs help.” She slammed the door of the refrigerator shut, jumping back at the ricochet and bang sound it made. She faced Piper with a sigh. “You know he is guilty, right? I don’t want this to disrupt your healing process.”
She schooled her expression, not wanting to let on that she brought it up for a specific reason. Something about Annabeth’s reaction made her nervous, but she couldn’t place exactly what threw her off. She combed through the words Annabeth used, the tone, and her body language, but was still stuck. “It isn’t disrupting anything. I’ve made my peace with it, regardless of who the culprit was.” She placed another box of pasta into the pantry.
Annabeth sighed behind her as she unwrapped a muffin and hopped onto the kitchen counter. “Okay, but he is guilty. Remember that.” She took a bite from the muffin and pulled out her phone, a silent signal that this conversation was over.
“Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. Why does it matter?”
“Why are you defending him?”
“I’m not!” she exclaimed, dropping the block of cheese in her hands onto the ground. “I just don’t understand why we need to be so defensive about this all.” Her heart raced in her chest, beating uncontrollably as she shook from frustration.
Annabeth slid off the counter and walked over, cupping her cheek with one hand. “I just want what’s best for you, Piper. See how wound up you are? We’re going to move on from this and not bring it up again. Okay?”
Piper nodded, but as Annabeth connected their lips with a smile she noticed she felt different. Something about the way Annabeth spoke and acted chilled her to her core, all while something in her screamed to run away. To get as far away from the blonde as she could. But another part of her clung to the familiar. To safety.
Annabeth had to be safe. If she couldn’t trust Annabeth, who did she have left?
These thoughts coursed through her mind and thickened the air, making their kiss even more tense. Annabeth pulled back with a confused and worried look on her face which only dissipated after Piper forced herself to pretend everything was alright. Pretend like she hadn’t just hit a moment of clarity.
Annabeth grabbed her hand, lacing their fingers together. “I love you. You know that right?”
“Yes.”
The blonde’s lips pressed together in thought and she stared back at Piper. Sighing, she released her hand and began to walk away. “Okay.”
“Annabeth,” she called out, not wanting things to end badly between them. Her girlfriend turned slowly, an annoyed expression covering her face. “Is everything okay?”
“Why don’t you tell me, Piper?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re acting differently and I don’t know what I did to deserve this but it’s frustrating.” She turned to grab a glass out of the cabinet, hands shaking slightly.
“I’m sorry. I guess your reaction to the news of Percy--”
Crash. The sound of glass shattering filled the room and cut off the rest of her sentence. A string of profanities left Annabeth’s mouth as the glass surrounded her. She bent to pick up the shards, but a piercing scream left her throat as a piece sliced through the top layers of her hand.
“Annabeth!” Piper called, rushing over to the girl, only to be shooed away.
“Just leave me alone, Piper.” She pressed a washcloth to her hand, sighing at the relief.
“Annabeth, please. Let’s just talk.”
“You want to talk? Okay, here: you’re so dramatic, I can’t stand it sometimes. If you think I’m so terrible, why are you even here then?” Her words shot like an arrow, straight through Piper’s heart. Each one spread like venom through her system, slowly poisoning her from within.
“Annabeth…” Words couldn’t even come to mind; she had no idea how to respond to that. So, she left. She mumbled, “I’ll give you time to cool off,” and left, walking straight out the door. Tears streamed down her face as she ran down the stairs of their apartment complex and her phone continuously rang with calls from Annabeth.
Sitting on a bench in Central Park, she sobbed into her hands. She had never seen this side of Annabeth, so cruel and full of hatred, and frankly she didn’t like it. She wanted nothing more than to march back into that apartment and scream at the top of her lungs until her voice went hoarse, but she knew she would never manage that.
She could never treat Annabeth like that, no matter how awfully she treated her. Deep down, she knew she could never win against Annabeth as well.
Stuck at a crossroads with no one left in her life to turn to, Piper wandered the streets of New York in search of a sign. For the first time since Leo and Jason’s deaths, Piper realized how alone she had become. How isolated from everyone she felt besides Annabeth. That wasn’t how this was supposed to be, but she didn’t know how to escape.
Mumbling quiet things in hope Jason and Leo heard them, wherever they were, she continued down the street. Suddenly, a gust of heat brushed past her, so strong she nearly got vertigo. Then, a crash of thunder in the distance. Lightning and heat, the two things she always associated with Jason and Leo, respectively.
Her composure disintegrated instantly, tears beginning to flow freely down her face once more. She didn’t know what message they were trying to send, but she immediately felt comforted by the fact that she wasn’t alone. “Give me another sign if my bad feelings are right,” she whispered, pleading to the sky.
A bolt of lightning shot through the sky, lighting it up and illuminating her spot on the street. “Fuck,” she sighed, runnning her hands through her hair.
Rain began to fall from the sky, hitting the pavement with plop sounds. Throwing her hands above her head, she ran back to the apartment, not stopping until safely in the complex lobby. Her hands shook as she reached for her keys, not sure what Annabeth’s reaction would be.
As she swung open the door she found a quiet apartment with no blonde in sight. The minute the door shut, though, Annabeth came bounding down the hall and wrapped her in a hug. “I’m sorry, we both overreacted. I didn’t mean what I said.” Annabeth’s face burrowed itself deep in her neck and the feeling of tears slipping onto her shoulder chilled her to the bone.
All she could focus on was the we of Annabeth’s “apology”, but she nodded and ran her hands through the blonde curls anyway. As the blonde pulled away and gray eyes met her own hazel ones, a shiver went through Piper’s body. Something about Annabeth’s eyes and body language, such as the fact that her eyes were dry and pupils not dilated despite her hysterical behavior, offset her.
That’s when it clicked: Annabeth was crazy. And she was stuck with her. All the puzzle pieces began to fall into place then. Annabeth’s reactions to each death of her friends. The timing of her appearances. The way she talked about Percy so negatively suddenly, despite being her best friend since they were twelve.
Percy didn’t kill Jason and Leo… Annabeth did. And now, here she was, holding that same girl in her arms.
Every bone in her body and each part of her brain screamed at her to run. Get out while she could and before she met a fate like Jason and Leo. But the fact was, she couldn’t fathom a life without Annabeth. She couldn’t handle another loss. So, Annabeth might be insane, but she was stable. She was consistent. And at this point, she was all Piper knew.
the actual end <3