Lost In Memories and Curses (PJO HOO STORY)

CHAPTER 8: YOU DON'T GET FLASHBACKS? THEY'RE SO ON TREND!

ANNABETH POV

It had been two days since the incident with Nico, him being the only one knowing of our situation as if right now. Percy and I planned it very well, slowly changing the way we treated ourselves so it looked as though we were getting healed and all back to normal to the rest of the seven. It sounded mean, when you think about it, tricking the rest of the people on our team, but Percy and I couldn't even sleep at night. We all need to be strong to defeat Gaea. As cocky as it sounds, I know that the others look up to us. If they know what happened to us down there... well, we just need to last long enough till after the war ends.

Given that, you know, we survive it.

Percy, who had the idea, called down for Apollo again and managed to snag some invisible bandages, which made our plan practically a lot more effective. It covered the skin, but the bandage was not visible. It just looked like a clear patch of skin.

A mask of our scars.

I had become extremely insecure after tartarus, feeling embarrassed of my scars and guilty about the ones that Percy possesses. I know it was all my fault, and nothing would tell me otherwise. My seaweed brain though, he always knew what was on my mind. I loved him so, so much for that. Every time he would come over to me and kiss me on the cheek or forehead and remind me that I was beautiful. I was strong.

I was his.

And that he would never leave me.

I knew I didn't deserve him or his love. How I managed to get this loyal, sarcastic, and undoubtedly hot boy to fall in love with me was way beyond me. But he did anyway, and I decided to not question it in case he ever changed his mind.

"Hey Annie!" Percy called out from inside the shower. I was sitting nervously on the bed, somehow freaking out that he died in there, and was instantly relieved when I heard his voice. "Can you get me some soap, ran out! And relax too, I can practically feel your stress from here!"

I choked out a laugh at that one and got up to give him a bar of soap. With the two of us now sharing a cabin (we glared at coach Hedge when he tried to smack down our door with his stupid baseball bat... gods, as much as I love that guy, he was so not fit to be a chaperone), stuff like soap and shampoo ran out fast. I even started wearing Percy's clothes, ignoring my own that began to collect dust in my room.

I used to hate nicknames, and I still do, but I no longer mind it when Percy says it. Wise Girl is, and will always be, his trademark name for me, which I find both silly and endearing, but he started to just shorten my name for a whole different reason. Down there, when things became really tough for Percy — I'm talking dehydrated, starved, severely bleeding, almost losing consciousness, and convinced of death — it started to become hard for him to breathe, much less talk. Everything he said came out as nothing above a whisper, making my heart ache. He couldn't manage to say my full name and resorted to "Annie" or "Beth" whenever he called out for me. During those times, he would reassure me, not even thinking about himself. But the curse of Tartarus ensured that he could come back. He would die and his soul would return to his body, with the help of Kronos' weird time magic thing, and the torture would start all over again.

I knocked on the door for a sec before walking into the bathroom, instantly hit with the dampness.

"Gods Percy, what are you doing showering in boiling hot water!" I cried out, the humidity making my hair frizz I bit. Percy just laughed and stuck his hand out from behind the shower curtain and I gave him the soap bar.

"Wait, Beth, this sounds wrong," he started to say, laughing a bit. I could picture his face flushed red with embarrassment. "But could you sit here and just talk? I'm so sorry but I was getting really panicky as well."