Archive of Our Own

Percy doesn't see Annabeth because he doesn't know he's supposed to be watching for her; he's overseeing a sparring session for the Aphrodite and Hecate cabins.

"Percy." Percy half-turns towards her, not wanting to let any of the campers--especially the younger ones, gods, had he ever been like that?--out of his sight. 

"We're done." There's a coldness to her voice that she's never directed at him before.

"What? Annabeth, what are you talking about?"

"You're doing it right now! You never pay attention to me, you don't have time for me anymore. If you had, this wouldn't be happening."

"Annabeth, we built a raft and had a floating picnic yesterday, remember? With strawberries, pasta, and cake. Did you hit your head? Are you okay?" Percy reaches for her, gently. Maybe she'd been reading while walking and tripped. It's happened before. 

"Don't lie to me, Percy. Stop pretending you care. We're done. Over. No longer dating. And I think it'll be best if you leave me alone from now on," Annabeth turns on her heel and marches away before Percy can say anything else, ignoring his calls of her name.

Stop pretending he cares? He's never been pretending, but it's clear she doesn't... want him around right now.

Or maybe she's been thinking this for a while and chose today to come out with it.

Gods, has Percy really not noticed this? He thought it was grief, not--not this. 

He must not have been nearly as attentive as he thought.

He glances around for anyone to take over the sparring session, but no one will meet his eyes. 

It must be true then, if no one wants to look at him.

There's no way he's going to fix this.

And yesterday, she seemed perfectly fine! Absolutely normal. Building the raft had been an endeavor made more difficult by Percy trying (and sometimes succeeding) to sneak kisses while they fit together the planks of the old dock to make their raft. They'd taken a couple of old blankets, and made up a basket (cake courtesy of his mom, of course, from their visit two days before). They'd spent the afternoon relaxing, and Annabeth had looked, acted, so happy. She'd kissed all over his face, just because she could. 

And today... she was breaking up with him. 

Percy isn't even sure why. 

That’s the worst part, honestly. He was happy--thought she was happy, thought she loved him--and now, he doesn’t get to know why.

He doesn’t get to know anything, except that Annabeth suddenly wants him out of her life.

He wants to do a lot of things right now, most of them involving chasing Annabeth down and demanding answers; she can’t leave him like this, not without knowing why, not when yesterday everything had been perfect. He wants to go jump in the lake and hide from everyone. He wants to call his mom and ask her where he went wrong. He wants to go back to yesterday, to when they were happy and nothing was wrong.

Percy can’t do any of those things. He can’t leave the kids on their own. That’s a surefire way for someone to get hurt, and that will be his fault too.

So he doesn’t follow Annabeth, and he doesn’t go jump in the lake, and he doesn’t go curl up in bed and call his mom.

He continues with the session, correcting stances and offering tips on autopilot, his head somewhere else.

Somewhere where Annabeth hasn’t just broken up with him and expected him to be okay.

Annabeth throws herself into teaching ancient Greek to the younger campers, training, and not thinking about Percy.

It's a lot harder than it looks, because Percy seems to be... everywhere. He's sparring with the Ares cabin when she's training, he's on her mind when she's teaching ancient Greek, remembering when he needed to learn. She notices when he sits alone at his table, because Tyson is still in the forges, and she hates that she cares that he's alone. He doesn't deserve that from her. He was rude and arrogant and treated her like she wasn't enough for him, and she doesn't need to worry about him.

He's leaving her alone, like she wanted, and it still feels all wrong. 

She just wants something to go right, for once. She can't look at the color blue without thinking about him, can't go to the lake because she remembers their kiss underwater, remembers... a raft? No, they hadn't had a raft, hadn't needed one, because Percy made a bubble underwater.

She must be thinking about something else. Someone else, maybe.

"Hey, Annabeth!" Piper jogs up to her. "Wanna train with me?"

"Sure." It's not like she has anything better to do. One of the perks of saving the world twice is that she gets to set whatever schedule she wants for herself.

It's easy to spar with Piper, even when Annabeth is still working on learning to use a sword rather than a dagger. It's familiar. safe.

(She still thinks about Percy.)

The days seem to move more slowly, even when sparring with Piper becomes a daily thing. She knows their friends know they broke up but she hasn't told them why.

Why hasn't she told them?

Why wouldn't she want them to know? 

Annabeth pushes the thought aside. her friends don't need to know the ins and outs of her relationships. She's a private person, and she doesn't want them taking sides, anyway.

She works on her weaving skills. If she's not focused on making something--a quick trap, a net, a ladder, useful things--then she finds herself weaving tapestries. Like Arachne had in her cave. Percy holding up the sky. Percy standing over her during the Battle of Manhattan. Her, leaning over Percy on the docks, offering her hand.

He'd once told her she'd been the image he'd seen in the River Styx.

She wonders if that would still be true now.

She weaves a picnic on a raft with Percy, but that's just wishful thinking. Percy would never be that soft with her. Maybe when they were younger, before two wars and Tartarus and watching their friends die. Maybe in another universe, they would be happy. A universe without gods and children whose trauma is too normalized for them to think of it as trauma.

Annabeth hides the tapestries. She's got at least a dozen now, almost all of them involving Percy: the fight in the arena with Ethan, in his praetor robes, making dolphins out of water to make the littles laugh, sparring with Luke, racing the chariots, even one that shows Percy, Annabeth, and Sally all sitting around Sally's kitchen table, eating blue ice cream.

They're done. They're over. She ended it for a reason. Percy's changed. He's not the person she's weaving pictures of anymore. Trauma--it can do that, it can change a person, and she loves him but he wasn't good to her anymore. He hadn't been treating her right and so she left. 

But what if she's wrong?

What if--no.

Her subconscious is just trying to deal with this. Percy was her friend long before he was her boyfriend, of course she misses him.

It doesn't mean anything.

It doesn't.

"Annabeth," She hears. She told him to stay away from her!

"I thought I told you not to talk to me." 

"I just wanted to know how you were doing." Percy's looking at her, but not quite meeting her eyes. "I'm not going to pretend I understand this, Annabeth, but it looks like you haven't slept properly in a while."

No, she hasn't, because there's usually Percy there, and he knows. She never had to explain to him the way she does her siblings. 

She doesn't want to worry them, anyway. The youngest is eight, and he's so small!

At least he's not like her. He's only here for the summer, he's got school and friends and good mothers who want the best for him.

"I don't see how it's your business," She snaps at Percy instead. "I told you to leave me alone."

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why did you tell me to leave you alone? I don't understand, Annabeth, but you look as miserable as I feel, and if we could at least be friends again--"

"No. Go away." Annabeth knows she's being stubborn, but Percy--she can't be around him. She can't. Things will only go wrong. She misses him, misses when he was the one she was sparring against instead of Piper or Clarisse or one of her siblings, but she can't.

The tapestries are all she can have of him now.

Annabeth tells Chiron she'll be leaving for the year.

Leaving camp, leaving New York.

Maybe she'll go to New Rome.

Or maybe she'll go stay in D.C. for a while, or Boston, or anywhere far away from Percy. 

Percy knows Annabeth's schedule--it's not hard to stay away from her.

She hasn't been sleeping; anyone who sees her at meals can tell that. Percy wouldn't be if he didn't spend his days exhausting himself with training and physical work. He throws himself into everything, visiting the forges and learning to make his own armor, sparring with Clarisse four times a week, running in the woods. He avoids the lake, because he knows that will just reenergize him and he just wants to sleep.

Percy doesn't have a plan in place for when summer ends, other than doing a few online classes to make up high school credits he missed. He can do those from the Big House, though, or from the apartment. He doesn't need to go anywhere, necessarily.

He'd wanted to have plans with Annabeth, had brought up a few with her, but now that they're not even talking as friends, Percy's not sure how much longer Annabeth will be in his life in any capacity.

He catches Annabeth staring at him at meals, sometimes. He wants to ask her what she's thinking, wants to know why she ended things. Any attempt to approach her, though, she leaves before he can reach her.

Maybe it's time to stop trying.

Maybe it’s time to stop hoping.

"Hey, Mom."

"Percy! Are you coming home for the school year?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna try it out for a while. Camp is great, but spending time with you is also important."

"I'm glad you'll be coming home. Is Annabeth going to be visiting?"

"No, I don't think so. She... she broke up with me a few weeks ago. She told me not to talk to her anymore, so I kept my distance. I just wanted to let you know I'll be coming home, I'll see you in a few days." 

With his plans set, Percy spends his last few days at camp packing and repacking, making plans he's not sure he's going to follow through on.

He keeps waiting for Annabeth’s input on them, a response to the little paper notes they used to pin to each other’s beds just because they could.

He hasn’t left her a note in a week.

She never responded to the last one.

Maybe he'll spend a little time in New Rome, figure out if he wants to go to college there, or stay in New York. Or if he wants to go to college at all. He had planned on it.

He had planned on a lot of things before Annabeth broke up with him.

"Hey, Piper, you going to visit your dad? How has he been doing?"

"He's been better. He doesn't really remember a lot of it, but sometimes when I call him he tells me about strange dreams he's been having. I'm not going now, but later this year I'm going to go see him when he's not working."

"Well, my mom will always be glad to have any of my friends over." Percy isn't that close with Piper, but there aren't many people from camp he wouldn't invite to meet his mom. He’s not afraid to admit that his mom is awesome.

"Are you going to New Rome, after you see your mom?"

"I might. I haven't seen Hazel and Frank in a while. I've got to catch up on high school, though, too." Percy's honestly surprised no one has asked him about Annabeth yet. He thought for sure someone would want an explanation, but instead, everything has been fairly normal.

He’s not sure if he’s grateful for that or not. He and Annabeth finally dating had been a big deal to most of the camp.

Maybe Annabeth’s already said something, or maybe everyone has learned to mind their own business.

(Yeah, right.)

"Yeah, school is gonna be such fun. I'm surprised there's not more of a homeschooling system set up here." Well, Percy thinks, that's not much point when most demigods hadn't lived--or had left and not come back--into their twenties for years. Percy is one of the oldest campers here, and he just turned eighteen.

"Yeah," He says. Maybe that will change now. Maybe he should talk to Chiron about that. They can't have kids growing up here and then not knowing basic school skills, at least.

"I've got one last sparring session to oversee, then I'm gone." Percy says. "I want to miss the rush of everyone leaving. You wanna join?"

"No, I'm sparring with Annabeth later. You didn't know that?" Piper gives him a strange look.

"Piper, Annabeth hasn't talked to me for weeks. One day she just... told to me to stop talking to her and broke up with me. I have no idea why. We'd just built the raft the day before, I thought everything was fine."

"I mean, I noticed you'd been spending more time apart, but I figured you'd just fought over plans or something. I can try to talk to her?"

"Don't. I'm leaving tonight and I've tried already. She doesn't want to talk about it."

Percy knows from the look on Piper's face that she's going to ask anyway.

"You really didn't know?"

"No. She didn't say anything, and you haven't either."

Why would he? He doesn't even know why himself. Annabeth's made it clear she's not going to give him any answers.

"I've got to go get set up, I'll talk to you later, Piper."

"Hey, Annabeth, did you and Percy have a fight?"

"Why do you ask?" Annabeth snaps at Piper. "Sorry, I don't mean to snap. I just don't want to talk to you about it."

"He's leaving early."

"What?"

"Yeah, he's leaving today after his sparring session. He's really excited to see his mom again."

That does sound like a Percy, a mama's boy in the best sort of way.

Annabeth probably isn't going to have an invitation to go with him to see Sally for a long time.

Why does she miss him so much?

"What was your fight about?"

"I don't know, because we didn't fight. It wasn't one thing, Piper, please leave it alone." 

"Annabeth, when is the last time you talked to him?"

"Leave it alone, Piper."

Percy wasn't good for her. He wasn't. He was rude, dismissive, he ignored her. He scared Annabeth, sometimes. He'd never hurt her, not outside of training, but he still scares her.

"We just didn't fit together anymore, Piper, is that what you wanted to hear?" Annabeth knows she's speaking too sharply, but she doesn't care. She wants Piper off her back so she doesn't have to think about Percy, about the raft she keeps dreaming about, where they were happy and Percy loved her still.

Why does this have to be so confusing?

"You broke up with him?"

"Yes, Piper, I did! He was rude and dismissive to me, and he could be scary at times. so I left. I don't need to date someone who treats me that way."

"Annabeth, Percy's been worried about you this whole time."

"He just misses me because I'm gone."

"I've never seen Percy be outright dismissive to someone unless they deserved it, let alone you."

"Well, you don't see everything, do you?" Annabeth settles into her stance. "Are we going to spar or not?"

Piper doesn't look happy about it, but Annabeth presses harder than she has during these sparring sessions before. Anything to avoid thinking about Percy, and why she didn't know he was leaving.

"Annabeth," Piper calls, once they've finished (half an hour earlier than they normally do. It's not because Annabeth wants to go see Percy off. She doesn't. She doesn't.) "I think you should talk to Percy. He doesn't know why you broke up with him. You don't seem to either."

"I already told you why I broke up with him." Annabeth says. "He's rude, dismissive, he doesn't listen to me, some days I don't even think he likes me."

"You keep saying that, almost the same way every time. 'He's rude and dismissive.' What else, Annabeth? Did he do or say anything specific? What happened?"

"That's all, Piper! There's nothing else!"

"Talk to him, Annabeth."

"No. I don't need to talk to him, I already know how he'll treat me. I don't need you or anyone else trying to convince me I'm wrong. My subconscious does enough of that."

Annabeth takes a long swim in the lake and skips dinner. She doesn't want to have to talk to anyone about this. When she passes the fire that night, she doesn't look for Percy only to find his usual spot empty.

That night, she dreams of laughing in Tartarus with Percy, of their underwater kiss, how cute he'd looked when he visited her during the Battle of Manhattan, all worried.

"Percy, come on, help me!" She's laughing, holding up a rope. Percy looks ridiculous, carrying a load of wood that nearly covers his face completely.

"I am helping! Someone's got to get the wood. That's the main part of a raft, you know." He starts arranging the pieces.

They're on the raft, completed. There's a woven section in the center--the rope she'd held earlier in the dream. They've got a basket of food with them.

Annabeth watches the Percy in her dreams laugh and kiss her.

Why had they stopped being that happy? What happened?

Well, Percy was different, now. And so was she. Being together wasn't right for them anymore.

It wasn't. 

She dreams of a day of leisurely kissing and floating on the lake. A day she doesn't remember.

Waking up, still feeling the sun on her skin from her dream, Annabeth knows she has to figure this out.

The Percy in her dreams--in her memories, the ones before the dream--was good to her. He made her laugh and worried about her, protected her, listened to her. 

He got angry sometimes, but he wasn't intentionally mean to her. He talked to her and apologized.

What if Piper was right, yesterday?

If they had a fight and broke up, Annabeth would remember that. If Percy had, gods forbid, hit her, she would remember that.

She doesn't remember that.

She remembers waking up, and knowing she had to be done with Percy. He's rude, dismissive, and he's changed. He's just not right for her anymore.

Why?

It's still dark out. No one is awake.

Annabeth wants that dream back. She wants the raft, kissing Percy on a lazy day in the sun.

She tries to go back to sleep.

Two weeks later, Annabeth still hasn't figured out what made her think she had to break up with Percy. She's been having a weird mix of dreams: ones she knows are memories of them, with every emotion under the sun, and others that seem real enough to be memories, but are just a little distorted. Something's wrong in all of them: Percy's eyes, her voice, the background.

She doesn't know what's real anymore.

The raft dream--she's had that nearly every night. Is that real? Are any of them real?

She can't ask Percy, she won't ask Percy, gods, she'd been horrible to him and he didn't even know why--she doesn't even know why.

But she's stopped sleeping and training at all, spending her days staring at the photos in the Big House, trying to make the pieces click.

Her siblings have given up on trying to make her sleep. She's snapped at Chiron more than once. She's avoiding Piper because she doesn't know what to say to her.

Clarisse.

Clarisse--they're not exactly friends, but Clarisse won't lie to her. Percy and Clarisse are on better terms now than when they were younger, but calling them friends still is a stretch.

Clarisse can help her make sense of these--these dreams, maybe memories.

And Annabeth will know why she broke up with Percy because right now, she doesn't. She has reasons, but they're not checking out.

Annabeth misses Percy.

Percy misses Annabeth. 

It's been almost two months, and he still turns to tell her something, to exchange a look when something funny or dumb or just plain wrong is said. His mom knows something happened but he hasn't told her what.

He'd like to tell Annabeth everything they're getting wrong in his mythology class. He wants to have study dates with her and have her over for dinner with his mom.

She wasn't even talking to him when he left, so maybe it's better if he moves on.

It's time to stop looking at the pictures he's printed of her, of them. Stop thinking about what she'd be doing at camp right now. Stop imagining dates they could be on, or places she'd like.

Stop looking at his phone like she's going to call.

"Percy!" Is what he gets when he answers Hazel's call. She's still getting used to new technology, and he suspects much more than that, but if she's struggling he can't tell in her voice. "Piper came out to visit, when are you coming?"

He laughs. He's really looking forward to seeing her and Frank again, but catching up on classes has kept him busy. He doesn't want to leave his mom on her own, either, because he always misses her.

"Probably for a week during my break, Hazel. I miss you guys too. Think you can convince Reyna to let me bunk with you?"

"I think I'll leave that to you. Let us know when you're coming! Winning all the war games will be really fun."

"Oh, I see, you only want me around because I help you win," He teases.

"Well, we've gotten better, but cohort five still has a reputation to overcome. We win at least twice a month now, though."

"I think you'll already be on a streak by the time I get there," Percy tells her, meaning it. "I'll help you keep it, though."

"Will Annabeth be coming with you? I think they'll make you split up."

"Um, Hazel, I don't know yet. I don't think so, she--she hasn't been talking to me."

"Oh, Percy." She's his friend, but he's not going to dump this on her.

"Don't worry about it, Hazel, we'll figure things out. It's just... that time of year again, you know how it goes." She makes a little noise of agreement.

"Percy, I've got to run, someone is trying to blow something up, apparently. Call me later this week? If we don't plan your visit now it's not going to happen."

"Yeah, I will." Percy promises. He's glad she didn't press about Annabeth. He still is tied up in knots over her, and he doesn't know what he's going to do about it.

Annabeth thinks about calling Percy. She really does. 

She’s just not sure that he’ll pick up.

“Clarisse?” Annabeth followed her--she’s sure Clarisse has noticed by now--into the woods. “Will you help me with something?”

“What?” Clarisse doesn’t look at her. Annabeth kind of wants to sit on the ground, firm and solid, to steady herself, but she doesn’t. She breathes in, slowly, and starts talking.

“I don’t know what’s real and what’s not.” That gets Clarisse’s attention. “I’ve been having dreams of Percy being terrible to me, yelling at me, threatening me, all sorts of things. But I also have memories of Percy being the exact opposite of that. I’ve been dreaming those, too. I broke up with Percy a while ago, because I woke up and something told me I had to. I don’t know why. I don’t have a reason. I keep saying that he’s dismissive, rude, that we don’t fit anymore, but I’m not even convincing myself. I miss him, Clarisse. I miss him so much and the last thing I told him was to leave me alone.”

Clarisse is studying her face intently. “What are the good dreams about? I can tell you if those are real.”

“They’re memories--Percy standing over me in the Battle of Manhattan, the underwater kiss, good things. When I’m not focused on what I’m weaving, I make tapestries of him, of us. I have so many hidden away now. The one that gets me the most, though, is the dream about the raft. That one hasn’t happened, but we’re always happy. We build a raft and I weave a net for the middle, and then we spend the day on the lake, eating cake and kissing and just… relaxing.”

“Annabeth, that did happen.” Clarisse says. “I can show you the raft. I thought we’d have to throw you in the lake again.”

“I don’t remember it, though. It’s just a dream.”

“It’s not. You and Percy were talking about moving in together. Show me the tapestries. No, bring them to the Big House.”

“I’ve spent hours there, looking at the pictures, trying to figure all this out.”

“Well, you can look at them some more. Come on.”

Clarisse is waiting in the conference room. Annabeth lays out the tapestries on the table and floor.

“When did you have time for all these? They’re smaller than I expected, but gods, Annabeth, there are so many.”

“I just kind of… found myself weaving them. It wasn’t something I set out to make, but if I didn’t have a goal in mind, this would happen.”

“Okay. Walk me through them.” Annabeth describes all the scenes, what she was feeling, thinking, and Clarisse alternates between watching her and staring at the tapestries.

“Have you talked to Chiron?”

“No. Piper’s tried to ask me, but I snapped at her. I didn’t want to think about why. I haven’t told anyone about this, because I don’t know what’s going on.”

“Tell me about the bad dreams about Percy. You said he yells?”

“He’s angry, usually, about something I did or said. He’s scared me before, but I’ve never been scared he’s going to hurt me like I have in these dreams. At least, I think they’re dreams. There’s always something small that’s a little off. They seem like memories, but I don’t think they are. He also will just ignore me, or tell me to go away, or leave. It depends.”

“And you picked me to talk to why?”

“Because you know me. You know Percy. You’ll be able to tell what behavior is real and what isn’t. You’re not Percy’s biggest fan, but you also won’t lie to me.”

“And Chiron would? Look, Annabeth, I’m glad you trusted me and all, but something else is going on here.”

“Not that I mind you using the room, but what is this about? Taking up a new hobby?” Chiron wheels into the room.

“Annabeth broke up with Percy.” Clarisse crosses her arms over her chest. “I think it’s mind magic, or other interference. She doesn’t know why she did it, the dreams and memories she has of Percy’s mistreatment of her are fake, and she keeps making these.”

“Annabeth, you didn’t think this important to mention earlier? You’ve been in here nearly every day, and you said nothing.

“I wasn’t questioning it. Not until I started missing him, way more than I should have when a part of me was insisting that I was better off without him. And then the dreams started. Dreams of being happy with Percy, without the flaws of the ones where he acts in anger towards me. Piper’s tried to talk to me about it, but I couldn’t give her a clear answer on why I broke up with him.”

“She still can’t.”

“It’s not strong enough to make you truly believe that leaving Percy was the best course of action. That rules out any major gods.”

“The dreams also didn’t start until I’d broken up with him. I woke up one morning--”

“The day after they built the raft.” Clarisse interrupts.

“--and just had the feeling that things needed to be over.”

“Intriguing.”

“I didn’t question it then. I went with it, I was angry at Percy and then I told him not to talk to me. So he didn’t. He didn’t tell anyone, either, because Piper didn’t ask me until the day he left camp. That’s the day I figured out that something was wrong. According to her, no one knew we had broken up.”

“I mean, I didn’t either, until you told me today. When you didn’t leave with him, I thought you’d disagreed on college plans or something. It seems like something you’d do.” Clarisse says. “So, someone strong enough to cause immediate compulsion to action and non-questioning, but not strong enough to stop Annabeth from thinking about Percy positively altogether.”

“Strong enough to ensure no one else wondered, either. There were bets on when you and Percy would start dating. A fight leading to a breakup isn’t something this camp would miss.”

“Why would they want us to break up and then not approach either of us?” Annabeth asks. “No one new has tried to talk to me, not more than usual. I didn’t see Percy with anyone new before he left.”

“Maybe just testing it to see what would happen?” Clarisse offers. “The Hypnos kids can work with dreams, but I don’t know how many of them can give dreams.”

“Percy doesn’t work with the Hypnos kids, but he trains the Hecate and Aphrodite cabins three times a week.”

“Yeah, and here you thought you hated him. You still know his schedule.”

“I don’t think I could ever hate Percy. He’d have to… I don’t know, murder me or something.”

“If Percy’s at the point where he’s murdering you, we’ll have so many other problems to deal with.”

Chiron is carefully moving around all the tapestries. “You’ve captured all of the most important moments in your relationship, to you, if I’m right. The moments where you thought you might lose him, across from the moments of happiness.” Looking at the way she’s laid them out, Annabeth realizes he’s right.

“I have more.” She admits. “There’s a couple of Tartarus. One of our date in Paris.” She’s not sure how she’s kept them all hidden at this point.

“I think we get the point from these,” Clarisse says dryly. “Do you think one of the Hecate kids could have done this? Manipulated Annabeth’s mind like that?”

“Perhaps, with the right preparations.”

“What if it was a Hecate kid working with a Hypnos kid? Compulsion spell, and then the dreams?” Annabeth suggests, picking up the tapestry with the raft. Clarisse says it’s real. Had she and Percy built the raft only the day before she broke up with him?

He’s never going to want to talk to her again.

“So this was real?” Her voice is smaller than she’s heard it in a long time. “Why attack this memory, specifically?”

“Well, if they saw you and Percy on the raft, being all sappy, it might have pushed them to go through with it.”

“Or speed up their plans.” Chiron muses. “We’ve been assuming that whoever altered Annabeth’s perception isn’t skilled enough to fully change it. Rather, they may have had a plan in place and altered it when Percy and Annabeth were on the raft.”

“I took over some of Percy’s sessions when he left. I haven’t noticed anything off with those kids, but I haven’t been looking for it, either.”

“Annabeth,” She looks up when Chiron addresses her, “Go call Percy. He deserves to hear the truth of this matter--what we know of it--from you.”

“What if he doesn’t answer?”

“Then you try again, or I’ll call him. He’ll answer, Annabeth. He’ll answer if we have to go talk to Sally to make it happen.”

She takes the tapestries back to Percy’s cabin. The fountain is long gone, but she’s always been able to call him--or Sally, when he’d been missing--from here.

She doesn’t think she’s ever told him that. It’s funny, how all the little things can slip through the cracks, until suddenly they’re important again.

Staring at the pieces of her life--their life--that she’s created, laid out across empty bunks, Annabeth dials the number she deleted from her phone two months ago but never forgot.

Percy’s making lunch with his mom--blue lemonade included--when his phone rings.

No one from camp calls unless it’s scheduled; it’s too dangerous to be calling each other all the time, especially outside.

He would have let it go to voicemail if his mom hadn’t thrown it at him.

“Answer it, Percy.” He glances down; it’s a picture he’d snuck of Annabeth when she wasn’t looking.

Laughing in the glow of the campfire, little flecks of marshmallows on her cheeks and lips. He never would have thought of her as a messy eater, but s’mores make messes of everyone. No amount of napkins could have saved her.

The living room. He still hasn’t told his mom what happened. If this goes badly she’ll still hear it, but he doesn’t want to take this call in front of her.

Percy lets the phone ring one more time.

He answers.

“Annabeth?”

The other end of the line is silent.

Why would she do that? Call, and not say anything? If she’s not going to talk to him, that’s fine--he can respect that, but why reach out only to say nothing?

“Are you there, Annabeth?” He tries to force his voice to be stony, but it doesn’t work.

He misses her too much to be mad right now. He hasn’t heard her voice in weeks.

“Percy! Yes, Percy, I’m here! Please… please don’t hang up.” Is she crying? What happened? Did she leave camp and get attacked? She’s better with her sword now, but he knows she’s still not as comfortable with it as she was with her dagger.

“Annabeth, what happened? Where are you? Are you hurt?”

“No, no, I’m not hurt. I’m okay, I’m at camp. I just needed to call you. I’m in your cabin, Percy. I made so many tapestries, you know that? They’re all of you. Of us. The underwater kiss, falling into Tartarus, holding up the sky, lunch with Sally…. the day on the raft.”

“What is this about, Annabeth?”

“Percy, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Will you see me in person? Or over IM? I don’t think I can tell you this over the phone.”

She’s sorry? It’s been nearly two months and she’s sorry?

“Annabeth…”

“I know! I know I hurt you, and if you want to you deserve to know why. Please, Percy. Please hear me out.” Percy lets his silence speak for him.

He misses her, he loves her, but he’s stopped waiting for her to call. He’s accepted that he’s not going to get an explanation. 

If she says she wants to try dating again, he’s going to laugh at her. After this, despite still loving her… he doesn’t want to try. Not like this.

“Percy, I miss you. I just want to talk, okay? Please. It doesn’t have to be here, at camp. It can be at your mom’s, or anywhere you want. I just want to see you again.”

He glances back into the kitchen.

“I’ll meet you, Annabeth. Tomorrow. I’ll text you the place and time. If you’re not there, don’t bother calling again.” He can’t stop his voice from breaking on the last word. He hangs up. Either she’ll be there or she won’t.

It’s probably too harsh, but Percy isn’t going to let her hurt him again. Not like before.

“How was your call?” Percy takes a second to settle himself, arranging their plates and silverware on the table.

“It was Annabeth.” His mom shoots him an exasperated look.

“I know that, honey, what did she say?”

“I’m meeting her tomorrow. I have to pick the time and place. She wants to talk.”

“Well, if you want an old woman’s advice--”

“You’re not old, Mom,” Percy rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling like he always is when she tries a joke like that.

“As I was saying, Percy. Hear her out. I know you haven’t told me everything. You don’t want to think about it, and that works for a while, but sometimes that hurt festers. I think you know what I’m talking about. Annabeth was here every week while you were missing, and I’d like to think I got to know her pretty well.”

“She sounded like she was crying. I thought she was hurt, at first. And she called from my cabin.”

“Yes, she often was there when she’d call me. Something about always being able to get through.” Percy meets her eyes, and knows she’s trying to say: ‘That little detail? It means everything.’

Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn’t matter.

“I’m not going to leave her hanging, Mom. Even if she just wants to explain, I’ll listen.”

“I know, Percy. You haven’t said anything, but I can tell you’ve missed her a lot. Maybe this will get you back on the right track.”

Yeah. Maybe.

He picks a new cafe--not one he’d thought about taking her to. Lunch will be good, maybe one. No, eleven. That way he won’t have time to think about it and back out himself.

Annabeth responds immediately when he texts her--‘Thank you so much for giving me a chance, Percy. I’ll be there.’

He’s not so sure he will, though. The more he thinks about it, the less it seems like a good idea. He wants to see Annabeth again. He wants to include her in his plans to visit New Rome and go on college visits.

But he doesn’t want her to explain things and then go back to not talking to him again.

He’s not sure he can handle that.

Clarisse has to talk Annabeth out of dressing up for her lunch with Percy.

It’s so much more than she’d thought he’d give her. She’d been ready to call his phone five, ten, twenty times before he picked up. Ready to have to show up at Sally’s with Clarisse and explain everything that way. 

This is better. Percy has picked the place, so even if it’s small the food will be good and hopefully he’ll listen.

She desperately needs him to believe her.

“Clarisse, we don’t have any proof--”

“Your own memories are proof. Tell him what’s been going on. Bring him back here and show him these if you have to. And stop trying to dress up! If you wear that he’ll think you want to date him again.”

“I do!” More than anything, she wants Percy back in her life. In any way he’ll let her be.

Gods, she’s missed him so much. If he’s willing to date her ever again after this, she will say yes.

“Annabeth, you went to Paris with Percy before. A little cafe in New York, no matter how fancy it is, doesn’t need the same wardrobe. Jeans and a shirt will be fine. He’s seen you covered in blood anyway. Get out of here before you try changing again.” Clarisse half-shoves her. “Bring him back here if you can.”

“Right, right, I know, the tapestries.” Her siblings have been kind enough not to mention that she didn’t spend the night in their cabin.

“And whoever did it might reveal themselves if they see you two together. All their hard work, gone to waste.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Annabeth’s not sure if Percy will believe her. She probably wouldn’t believe her, all things considered.

“Remember what we talked through yesterday: None of the dreams of Percy being angry at you are real.”

That, too. She’d walked Clarisse through a few of the worst dreams, and she’d confirmed them all as fake. Percy might yell, but he hadn’t really yelled at her in anger since they were kids, and that was different. 

She gets there a little early and picks a table by the window. 

"Annabeth." Percy, in dark wash jeans and a t-shirt--now she's glad Clarisse didn't let her wear what she had picked out--sits in the seat across from her.

"Percy." She wants to reach out and take his hand across the table, but the gesture won't be welcomed. Percy's shoulders are tense, he's hardly looking at her. "I know you want to know what happened, and you're probably not going to believe me, but please, just listen."

"Annabeth, just tell me."

“Someone wanted me to break up with you. The day we broke up, I woke up and just--had to. I knew I had to, for some reason, and I didn’t know why. I started having dreams where you were angry at me, yelling, and threatening me, mixed with dreams I knew were memories. Good memories. I couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t. I missed you all the time, but I didn’t think I should be missing you. When Piper tried to talk to me about it, she pointed out that I was just giving the same reason over and over.”

“So someone tricked you into breaking up with me? With dreams?”

“The dreams came later. But, I think it was the day after we built the raft, it was like a compulsion. I had to break up with you, and then not talk to you. I know it’s not what you want to hear, Percy, but I really didn’t have a reason--not a valid one,” She stops talking as the waitress comes over, studying Percy’s face to try and figure out what he’s thinking.

“What can I get you two?”

“I’ll have a sweet cherry coffee, regular, and he’ll have a hot chocolate with four pumps of strawberry syrup,” Annabeth answers, hardly thinking about it. She’s run their coffee orders so many times, it’s a habit.

Percy gives her an odd look.

“She’ll also take a cherry muffin. Nothing else for me, thanks.” Once the waitress has stepped away, he turns back to her. “So, you still know my coffee order?”

“Well, I’d hardly call it a coffee order,” She teases. “They have cherry muffins here? I hadn’t even checked.”

“I looked it up, before I came. I always do, before we go somewhere new.”

She hadn’t known that.

“Percy,” She says, but he holds up a hand to stop her.

“I’ll come back to camp with you after this. You mentioned something about tapestries? I think I’d like to see them.”

“Yes! Yes, of course. Just so you know, I talked over the dreams with Clarisse to figure out what ones were real. I couldn’t trust myself.”

“At camp, Beth.”

Beth! He called her Beth!

Maybe things aren’t as unsalvageable as she thought.

“I put them all in here.” She doesn’t mention that she spent the night in his cabin.

Percy’s tense again. He’d relaxed a little over lunch, eventually ordering a sub and teasing her for stealing his cheese to go with her muffin. Things were normal, for a minute. It could have been a normal date.

But they don’t get normal.

Annabeth really hates remembering that.

“You made all these?” Percy squats next to the one of their kiss at Mount St. Helen’s--she hasn’t mentioned that one to anyone else.

“Yes.” And, looking around the cabin, she’s beginning to realize just how many she made. There are at least three for every year they’ve known each other, and more than that for the past few years. Every big event, every quest. Even things she wasn’t there for, that Percy has only told her about: Standing alone against the shades in Alaska, Mr. D wrapping the vines around Percy and Blackjack.

“Annabeth, why?”

“Because I couldn’t stop thinking about you. Something told me I wasn’t supposed to think about you, not at all, but I couldn’t. It had to come out somewhere.”

She’s hidden the one with the white dress and the beach. She’s not ready to think about that one, yet. And she’s not sure Percy will appreciate it. 

“You said you talked to Clarisse and Chiron.”

“I did.”

“Why not before yesterday?”

“Because no one knew. Clarisse sparred with you four days a week, Percy, and she didn’t know we had broken up. Something’s going on here, something outside of my control.”

“People minding their own business?” Percy doesn’t look happy, but he’s not angry, either.

“When has anyone here ever done that?”

“I guess. You think someone spelled you, then. Or messed with your dreams to make you break up with me.”

“Not just me, but the whole camp. Think about it, Percy. I mean, it’s not like you to just leave something like this alone. Even when I told you I didn’t want to talk to you, you would normally give me a day to cool off and then come work it out. You didn’t. Piper and Clarisse thought we were just having a disagreement until we told them.”

“Why would they want to do this, though?”

“Jealousy? Wanting to see us upset? I don’t know. We don’t know who it is. Our best guess is one of the Hecate kids you trained, maybe working with a Hypnos kid.”

“You broke up with me after our day on the raft, and whatever they tried to do isn’t sticking.”

“Clearly.”

“Annabeth, I’m going to talk to Clarisse for myself. Thank you for showing me these.” He lingers over the one with Sally.

“You can take it, if you want. And give it to her. I won’t mind.” She says, wanting more than anything to know if he believes her, if he still trusts her enough to believe her.

If she ever has a chance of being more than a friend again.

Today has only highlighted how much she’s missed him. He’s her best friend, he knows her almost better than she knows herself. They’ve made it through everything the wars threw at them and came out closer than ever.

She doesn’t want to miss him like this anymore. She never wants to miss him like this again.

“Percy…” She stops him at the door. ‘I love you.’ is what she wants to say.

She doesn’t.

Clarisse is waiting on the basketball court.

“Figured you’d come this way, Jackson,” She thumps him on the back in greeting. “So. You talked to Annabeth?”

“Yeah. I believe her, or at least I want to.”

“That’s a start. How’d the cafe go?”

“Things felt… normal again. Right. We fell back into ordering for each other and joking around like it was breathing.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“Listen, Jackson, I’m not trying to play therapist here. But Annabeth’s been miserable, and you look miserable. I noticed that, even if I didn’t know what was going on. You want me to confirm that the dreams she was having were fake, don’t you? Are you that scared of yourself that you think you would hurt Annabeth on purpose?”

“No, of course I wouldn’t.” The confirmation would still be nice, though.

“You didn’t, so stop worrying. Annabeth was able to pick out details that were fake in all of them. I’ve never seen you behave the way she described you, either, not when you’re not in battle or something.”

“She showed me the tapestries.”

“Of course she did. I didn’t know she was making those until she showed me. They’re good.”

Percy hadn’t known Annabeth could weave like that. She’d told him about her rope ladder, in Rome’s underground tunnels, but he’d never seen it for himself.

It’s impressive.

“Alright, Percy, I’m done with you. Go talk things out with Annabeth. Finish the talk. Chiron and I are on the lookout for anyone who might have tried anything.”

“Wait, you haven’t told anyone else?”

“Do you want me to draw attention to your breakup? How do you think that will go?”

“Point taken.”

Percy takes a minute outside his cabin to turn things over.

One: He’s still in love with Annabeth.

Two: He’s missed her in ways he hadn’t realized he could miss someone.

Three: Annabeth looks like she hasn’t slept since he left camp.

Four: He evidently still looks miserable, and his mom is too nice to say anything.

Five: All signs point to this... situation... being true.

Annabeth can be mean, but she’s not petty enough to plan an elaborate prank like this. Even if she had wanted to break up with him, she wouldn’t have done this.

“Percy?” One of the kids he trains--Stevie. “I thought you were gone for the year.”

“I had a few things to pick up.”

“I saw Annabeth go in there. Is she allowed?”

“Yeah, she’s helping me.”

“Why?”

“That’s what we do.”

“No, why are you here? With her? I thought-”

“What?”

“Nothing,” Stevie tries to run, but Percy’s faster.

“What’d you think, kid?”

“Just--Peter and Ellie said it would work!”

“Hey, Clarisse, I got someone for you!” Annabeth is watching from the door of his cabin, blocking the tapestries from view. 

“That fast?” Clarisse jogs over, seeming more amused than annoyed.

“Well, he came to me,” Percy shrugs. “Now, I have a talk to finish with Annabeth. And then I figured I’d take her to see my mom.”

Percy’s still not sure how he feels about all this--knowing Annabeth was under magical influence, with false dreams skewing her view, changes things, but it doesn’t change how things happened.

He’s missed Annabeth, though. They don’t have to get back to where they were right away--she’s hesitating, too. Not being able to trust her own mind has scared her.

It would scare him, too.

“Annabeth,” He steps past her, into his cabin. “Do you want to pick a few of these and bring them over to my mom’s? I can call her and tell her you’re joining us for dinner.”

“I’d love to.”

For now, Percy will get used to this. Figuring things out, sorting through the dreams and the compulsions still buried in Annabeth’s head. Being careful with each other in a way they haven’t been since they started dating.

It’s not okay right now, but it will be.

Annabeth does dress up for dinner at Sally’s--Sally has seen her in Percy’s old sweatpants and a too-big t-shirt, but it’s the principle of the thing.

Percy’s right next to her, but she still misses him. He hasn’t touched her at all today. Hasn’t held her hand, or wrapped an arm around her shoulders, or hugged her. 

She wishes it was easier to handle this. Wishes that she’d noticed before now that something was wrong.

She thought Percy knowing the truth would make it better. Instead, she’s second-guessing everything she does based on his reactions.

Does he still love her?

Can he, after the way she left him?

“Beth,” He murmurs, close to her ear like they’re in a crowded subway instead of in his mother’s kitchen, “I can hear you worrying. Don’t. Mom loves you, you know that.”

“Do you?” She doesn’t mean for it to slip out.

“Of course I do. I love you, Annabeth Chase, and I don’t think I know how to stop. This was… just a bump in the road. A big bump, but we’ve come through before. We’ll do it again.”

How does he always know the right thing to say?

“Come on, before Mom thinks we’re having sex on her kitchen counter.”

“Percy Jackson!” Annabeth turns around and slaps his arm lightly.

“What?”

“Do not even go there.”

“Whatever you say, Beth.” He laughs, and when he pulls away, he links his fingers with hers. “I can see it in your eyes that you’re still worrying. Stop, seriously. We have more things to talk about, yeah, but we can do that later. We’re gonna be okay.”

“Hmmm, I don’t know.” Annabeth starts leading him to the living room. “I hear there’s this new little place with cherry muffins and cherry coffee, and we haven’t been on a date there yet. Might have to take Sally with me, instead.”

“Choosing my mom over me?” Percy gasps. “How could you!” 

“Well, I know which of you is quieter.” Sally pokes at Percy with a remote. “How’s dinner?”

“It’s fine, Mom, just like last time you asked.”

Annabeth settles back against the couch, Percy’s arm around her waist.

She’s not fine, not really, but she’ll learn to trust herself again.

She doesn’t think Percy is, either. He’s too good to her, letting her back in like this. He still loves her, and she still loves him, and they’ll figure everything else out as it comes.

They’re not quite okay, not yet.

They will be.

“Hey, Percy?” She whispers, when Sally goes to check on dinner herself.

“Yeah, Annabeth?” He whispers back.

“I love you.” He pulls her onto his lap, and she curls into him.

That’s answer enough for her.

(She doesn’t pull out the tapestry with the white dress and the beach for a year. The dress she wears isn’t the same one, it rains on their wedding day, and Grover almost drops the rings three times handing them to Percy, he’s so nervous. Percy swears they look happier in the photos than in the tapestry.

Annabeth is never going to give him the satisfaction of being right about it, so she keeps her agreement to herself.)