Perachel

Desperate Times

         

                 Annabeth was shocked when she saw Rachel lying on the grass, her side bleeding profusely. Percy was clinging to her, the front of his shirt brown-red, dried blood. He was crying and screaming for help, and murmuring to Rachel, squeezing her pale, slender hand. Annabeth couldn't help but wonder if Percy did the same for her, holding her like his life was the one on the line. All the times he had embraced her, it wasn't passion, but protection! Now that Percy wasn't Annabeth's anymore, she questioned if Percy would settle down with Rachel, if they'd save the world, if she'd disappear from Percy's mind? 

And once this month was over, would she and Rachel have switched? One a good friend and the other a girlfriend? Annabeth was starting to realize that Rachel must have liked Percy a good deal of the time she had, leaving a bitter taste on Annabeth's tongue. It also made her heart ache, thinking of the way things had ended. Especially with all the plans she'd made to move to new Rome in four months, when Percy turned 18. They were going to adopt a dog, and maybe find a college! And now it was all gone, because of Rachel Elizabeth Dare. 

Annabeth never meant the monstrous chimera to attack Rachel, but she couldn't truthfully say it was a tragedy! It also had created enough of a commotion to stop the Final Contest in Monomachia. She was almost positive Rachel would be fine, the wound had hardly reached past all her belly fat.... Who was she kidding, Rachel was a stick! She most likely would end up dead, unless given ambrosia, but like Chiron told the grieving boy, it might kill her. It was common knowledge if a demigod, a half freaking god, were to consume to much ambrosia, they would burn up and die! So an ordinary mortal like Rachel could only at most eat an eighth of a square with no consequence. 

Annabeth turned her head away from the grisly scene being cleaned, and wished more than anything that Luke hadn't gone evil, or Thalia and the hunters were here. Annabeth could remember a time when she wanted to join the hunters, an elite group of Artemis' handmaidens, that never aged. They could only be slain by mortal wounds. The only reason she had held back, is that Artemis, as a maiden goddess, has all her hunters vow never to date a boy or girl. And Annabeth chose Percy over eternal youth. 

Then he turned his back on her and cheated with a ginger! She wasn't sure what she saw in her. Yes, she had attitude, and was slightly pretty. Yet she was reckless, and mortal, and needy. Another thing Annabeth couldn't stand about Rachel, was that she always had to be a hero. Whether with a stupid goddamn plastic hairbrush, or a heroic dive to save Percy from a chimera. She always wanted to be recognized for it too, gloating and bragging. Annabeth had saved the world, and camp, seven times over, and Rachel saves one camper? Annabeth never asked for anything, no attention, or prizes, but Rachel did. Despite Annabeth would have done the same thing, had she not been charmspoken into swearing on the River Styx to avoid Percy, that is. 

Annabeth grudgingly did have to give Rachel credit, she was incredibly smart with her plan. It made Annabeth look like a stuck up snob who wanted nothing to do with her everything! And then Rachel slunk in like a weasel and stole Percy when he was all alone. Annabeth hated every molecule in that girl, so much she saw her as the walking, talking Tartarus. 

Annabeth wished Percy and her were still a thing, and her chest heaved with held in sobs. She was afraid to make a noise, for if Percy looked at her with those deep, sea green eyes, she would melt. Inside, she knew she had no one to blame but herself for the breakup. She also couldn't honestly have expected nobody else to try and date Percy! He was a hero, and a cute, emotional one too! 

She may have been the daughter of Athena, goddess of Wisdom, but when it came to knowledge on relationships, she was as dumb as a doorknob, to quote Shakespeare, something she DID know quite well. Her knees trembled, and she fought not to collapse to the ground. For everything she knew, she was still useless, and alone, so, so alone! She wanted to be Rachel, bleeding across the ground, dying, but still in Percy's hands. 

She shook her head, and knew she would have to find a way around this oath, a way to talk to Percy. Even if he wouldn't date her again, she still wanted to be friends, she needed to be friends with him. But it would also destroy her inside, she wasn't sure how Rachel had stood it. 

She sidled around the corner of the cabin, and dashed into the Athena cabin, she would need time alone to think. That was the advantage of being brilliant, thinking was like a second nature. 

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Percy's eyes shot up from where they'd been staring at Rachel's face for the past fifteen minutes straight. He had heard a choked sob. He looked towards the corner of the Aphrodite cabin, and only saw a flash of curly blonde hair. despite their breakup, Percy was worried about her. She spent all her time alone, and went out of her way to avoid him, sometimes flat out running away! He needed to talk to her, seriously. He did like like Rachel, and she was his girlfriend, but unlike Annabeth, he knew Rachel would trust him not to cheat on her. He still thought Annabeth was cute, and pretty, but it was nice to be free of the control and demand that came with her. 

He still couldn't forget all the times they had shared. He realized he liked two girls, again.