Chapter Text
Piper stared down at the training grounds anxiously. It was empty, save for one teenage girl with curly blonde hair tied up into a messy ponytail. To Piper and the rest of the campers, Annabeth was a wise leader, kind and stoic and strong. She was a safe person to talk to, understanding and knowledgeable, and she always helped the younger and newer campers get settled in.
Until she got like this, that is. When Annabeth approached the training grounds with her dagger held firmly in her hand and a storm of emotions clouding her eyes, everybody knew to clear the area.
Even though having witnesses there would have made this a thousand times easier, Piper couldn’t blame the panicked campers. Leo had given hastily made excuses when Piper had asked him to come with her, and even Jason looked at her with guilty eyes and a mutter of, “Annabeth is scary Piper.”
And they were supposed to always have her back.
Piper let a shaky breath out, and started descending down to certain doom. Annabeth was usually fun to be around, but not like this, not after she had stayed up several nights so that she could review the blueprints for the Argo, not when Grover had just come back to camp shaking his head saying that he couldn't find any trace of Percy at all.
Piper reached the training grounds and hesitated still. She gulped and tried to tell herself that Annabeth wouldn't do anything bad. What was the worse that could happen?
Her brain instantly jumped on the rhetorical question. Images of Annabeth never talking to her again ran through her mind. Then worse; Annabeth attacking her for asking her such a thing when she was so upset - perhaps Piper should have chosen a better time to approach her than when she was in such a bad mood. Then even worse; Annabeth crying, Annabeth upset and in tears because Piper had been so insensitive to ask her about her girlfriend who had been missing for months and months on end.
So lost inside her horrified musings Piper failed to notice Annabeth pausing in her methodological destruction of the training dummies. She failed to notice Annabeth walking over to her, she failed to notice anything until Annabeth sharply cleared her throat.
“Oh! Annabeth!” Piper laughed nervously. “Uh, I didn't see you there!”
Annabeth raised an eyebrow. “Obviously,” she said dryly, and she looked even more tired up close, with the dark bags under her eyes, the weariness practically radiating off of her, and her eyes, oh her eyes. Annabeth may have a disturbingly good poker face, but her eyes would always give her away. Annabeth was tired, tired down to her very bones. She was tired and stressed and was very, very close to breaking down. And Piper may just ask her something that would push her over the edge.
Piper may have been curious about Percy, but she would never put Annabeth through any pain solely to sate her curiosity. Piper had to ask for her boys. For Jason who had tearfully confessed that he was scared that he wouldn't get along with Percy, that she would hate him, that they would fight and what if their fighting caused the world to end what if that happened what if he was the cause of the end of the world? For Leo who constantly bombarded everybody who had ever talked to Percy with questions - not Annabeth though, never Annabeth. Would Percy like the Argo? What should Percy’s room look like? Should he include anything for her that wasn't already planned on being added? Would Percy like his jokes? What was Percy like? How did she manage to get Annabeth, who was hands down the scariest person that he knew, to fall in love with her?
And maybe it was a little bit for Annabeth too, because hiding that much emotion, not allowing herself to feel it until she was all alone could not be good for her. She acted strong, she acted like there was nothing wrong, and the only way she expressed her emotions was through what she was just doing - tearing through all of the dummies.
“Piper?” Annabeth prompted. “Did you need something?”
Piper jumped again, giving Annabeth a guilty look. “Ah, yeah sorry. I - I ah, I need to ask you something,” Piper steeled herself. “I - er, Jason, Leo and I - that is -”
Annabeth held up a hand to stop her, a deepest sadness growing on her face. “I think I know what you're trying to ask,” Annabeth sighed and mumbled, “I promised myself that I would tell you guys if you asked about her.”
Piper's eyes widened. She hadn't thought that Annabeth would react so well, and in her surprise, she allowed her excitement to show. “Really? Oh that’s - that's great! Thank you so much, Annabeth! I know that Jason's been stressing out over how well he's going to get along with her and Leo has been talking all about jinxing the ship without the daughter of the Sea God there -”
“- and yet they sent you down to talk me into it,” Annabeth said wryly. She looked deeply unimpressed. “Chickened out, did they?”
Piper couldn't stop herself from snorting. Maybe she remained a little bitter that the two boys couldn't find it in them to support her while she asked Annabeth something that could cause her to be set off. Rolling her eyes, Piper agreed with a scoff of, “Boys.”
Annabeth laughed in agreement. It was worn out and forced, but at least it wasn't fake. “I know, right?”
Piper sighed, about to speak, when she noticed a movement on the top of hill that she had just been hesitating on. Annabeth had obviously seen it too, because the older girl shared a look of annoyance with her.
“Leo or Jason do you think?” Piper asked, irritated. So they chose to hide while Piper faced the threat of Annabeth’s ire by herself? It was better though, then them not coming at all, she supposed.
“What we just saw was probably Leo,” Annabeth muttered. “Jason is much too cautious to allow himself to be seen. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if Jason was up there too.”
“Oh, they’re definitely both up there,” Piper said firmly. She narrowed her eyes and cleared her throat. She could feel the power of her Charmspeak, a power that would override her friends free will and force them to do her bidding, burning within her throat and then raise into her mouth then out in a simple command. “Get down here.”
Annabeth could feel it too, Piper saw. She saw it in the way that her knees shook in the effort that it took to keep her from sinking lower and the way her whole body tensed in resistance. Piper instantly felt guilt flood her. She hated using Charmspeak on her friends.
She didn’t have much time to wallow in her guilt though, because within seconds Jason and Leo were standing in front of Piper, faces horrified.
“We’re sorry Piper!” Leo burst out, looking for all the world like he had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. How could Piper possibly be angry at that? “We should have been with you.”
Jason nodded, his eyes flicking towards Annabeth gingerly. “Very sorry,” he added, his blue eyes filling with remorse.
Piper sighed. However much she tried, she could never stay mad at them. Besides, she used her Charmspeak on them, and that more than made up for them abandoning her, in her opinion. “It’s fine,” she assured them. “Just…” she shrugged. “I don’t know. Don’t do it again.”
Leo nodded his head vigorously and Jason gave her a sheepish smile, rubbing the nape of his neck. “I promise,” he said. “And I really am sorry.”
Piper waved him off. “All forgiven,” she said easily.
Leo cleared his throat. “So Annabeth, did you and Piper talk about, you know…”
Annabeth inclined her head coolly. “We did,” she confirmed. “Come with me.”
Leo’s eyes widened in alarm. As Annabeth started walking in the direction of the cabins, Leo and Jason came up on either side of Piper as they followed her.
Leo loudly whispered to Piper and Jason, “Is that a good come with me or a bad come with me? Is she going to kill us?”
Jason bit his lip thoughtfully, something that Piper was momentarily distracted by before she ruined away, face slightly pink. “I don't think so,” he said, not noticing Piper’s slightly flustered state. “She didn't seem very upset.”
That wasn't true, Piper noticed. Annabeth was upset. She was very upset. She was sad, she was stressed, and she was anxious. But most of all, she missed Percy.
She was simply good at hiding it.
“How did talking to her go?” Leo asked Piper eagerly, not satisfied with Jason's answer. “Did she say that she'd talk to us about Percy? Is she going to tell us about her? Is she going to kill us?”
Piper let out a pondering hum, enjoying the look of building anticipation on Leo and Jason’s faces.
Ahead of her, Piper could almost feel the amusement rolling off of Annabeth. She nearly smiled - anything that got Annabeth to feel better was great in her book.
Finally, it got to be too much, and Leo, nearly bursting with impatience, demanded, “Well?”
Piper chuckled. “Yeah, she's going to tell us about her,” she told them.
Jason let out a quiet sigh of relief and Leo let out a whoop.
Annabeth spun around to face them and gave the three of them a deadpan stare. “You guys know that I can hear everything that you've been saying, yes?”
Jason flushed lightly. “Oh. Um, I’m sorry, Annabeth.”
Annabeth rolled her eyes. “Gods, you all don’t have to act like you’re treading on thin ice all the time. I’m not as delicate as you all seem to think.”
Annabeth turned back around, and the group walked in silence for a few seconds, before Leo questioned, “Annabeth, where are you even taking us? You could’ve told us about her anywhere secluded, and we’re at the cabins, and all of us have siblings that wander around all day. Except Jason’s, but I don’t want to go in there. Sorry bud.”
Piper shuddered at the thought of Jason’s cabin. It always had a chilly feel in it, no matter how warm it actually was. She felt bad for Jason to have to sleep in there all the time.
“No don’t apologize,” Jason said grimacing. “I totally understand.”
Annabeth continued to walk without turning until they reached the base of cabin number three. Piper felt anticipation start to thrum within her. After a moment of tense silence, Annabeth responded with, “You want to know her full story, do you not?” Annabeth turned around and walked up the steps to her girlfriends cabin. “And for that to happen, there’s a certain magical item which belongs to her that we need.”
Piper felt her breath catch in her throat. Percy Jackson’s cabin. The Percy Jackson’s cabin.
Cabin number three just so happened to be infamous. Many a camper (Leo mostly, actually) had tried to take a peek inside the cabin, but to no avail. According to the Stoll brothers, Tyson, Percy’s cyclops half-brother had modified the door so that it would only allow people in if they pressed a certain part of it. Piper didn’t know how much of that story was true, as the Stolls were notorious for their pranks, but that didn’t change the fact the Leo failed to enter, no matter how much he tried.
Annabeth pressed a small, discoloured part of the doorframe and the door swung inward, showing a hint of what was inside. The older teen hesitated a moment, and just enough of her face was visible that Piper could see a look of anguish flicker across Annabeth’s face, and she seemed as though she might cry for a moment. The look passed as Annabeth took a deep breath to compose herself and disappeared into the cabin. The door hung open invitingly.
Piper shared a look with her boys. The unrestrained curiosity and excitement that she felt were reflected back at her in their own eyes. Jason nodded once at them, and together, they started up the steps after Annabeth.