Fatally Flawed - Percabeth (Percy Jackson Fanfiction)

Chapter sixteen.

Hugging his half-brother had never felt better to Percy. He could hardly breathe, but it felt nice. “I missed you a whole lot, Tyson,” he said quietly. Clarisse smiled, watching the brothers reunite. There was a part of Percy that still wondered why she was being so nice to him, but another part butt in and told him to go with it.

“I missed you too, brother,” Tyson said. “A lot, a lot!”

Percy smiled. “That’s good to hear.”

“Daddy met with you in Olympus eight days ago. Came back angry. Why?” the Cyclops asked.

“It didn’t go too well. But that doesn’t matter now.” Percy sighed, pulling away from his brother’s hug. “I haven’t seen you since I was about to die. How are you?”

“Bad. Very bad, because you are bad. Grover says you feel bad, why do you feel bad?” Tyson was so concerned, it almost made Percy smile again.

“Well, buddy, Annabeth and I…..we broke up, I guess,” he explained. “That makes me feel bad, you know?”

“Oh, no. No, no, no,” Tyson groaned. “Annabeth and you love each other. Why did you break up? No, that’s not right!”

Yeah, Percy thought, it isn’t right.

“Your brother forgot to mention that Annabeth has been cheating on him for only gods know how long,” Clarisse added from behind Percy.

Oh yeah, Percy remembered. “But that doesn’t matter, Ty. All that matters is that you’re here.”

“I want to see Annabeth,” Tyson announced, smiling. Percy inwardly kicked himself for even telling him, because there was no way Tyson would just let Percy go on ignoring Annabeth.

“I just saw her a bit ago. Tyson, she’s in the infirmary, she had an…accident.” And suddenly, Percy felt a pang of guilt rush over him. I was too harsh to her. She’s injured enough physically, and I just had to go and hurt her emotionally…great.

“Infirmary? Accident?” his brother asked.

“Hera….Hera did something to Annabeth. Something bad. Annabeth’s face is stitched together, and we don’t know how bad the scarring will be, but—”

“So, you have tried using the Golden Fleece?” Tyson interrupted.

“What?” Percy asked, registering what he said. “Well, no, we haven’t. It’s just, would it even work on her?”

“Percy protects Annabeth no matter what. What happened to that?” Tyson scolded him.

“Ty, its different now, Annabeth doesn’t want me to—”

“Liar!” Tyson shouted. “Percy protects Annabeth because Percy loves Annabeth. No matter what. You still love Annabeth, don’t you?”

“Well,” Percy paused, thinking. “Yeah, I do. I think I always will.”

“Then why are you letting your hurt get in the way of that? Annabeth made a mistake, but you have done the same. Forgiveness, brother, forgiveness.”

“Tyson, you don’t get it!” Clarisse objected. “You don’t get it at all! I found Percy crying—yeah, Percy was crying—because he was so hurt! Percy is the strongest person I know, and Annabeth hurt him really bad! He has a right to stop loving her, and he has a right to stop protecting her!”

It was silent for a minute. Tyson looked sad, and disappointed.

“Clarisse, I’m gonna take Tyson to see Annabeth. He needs to see her,” Percy said quietly. “But thanks for that.”

Clarisse shrugged. “Whatever, Jackson, but my friendliness won’t last forever. Get yourself back together and be a fair opponent again. I miss fighting with you, Percy.”

And Percy smiled. “Oh, it’s on, La Rue.”

And she smiled back. “Good.”

Tyson went into the infirmary before Percy; because he wasn’t sure he wanted to see Annabeth again. He was more upset about it this time. His brother was there, and his brother was emotional, which would probably make Percy emotional.

It was a good ten minutes before Tyson came back out to retrieve Percy. “She wants to see you.”

“Yeah,” Percy said. He had been expecting it. An official break-up. “Okay.”

He took a deep breath before going into to see her. She looked broken, and Percy suddenly longed for a tackle from the headstrong love of his life. “Hey,” he said.

“Hi,” she whispered.

“You wanted to see me, then?” he asked.

“Uh-huh,” she said. “I need to say something.” When she finally met his eyes, Percy realized she had been crying. Her black and red eyes were redder and puffier than earlier. And he took a minute to examine her face.  A cut ran just across the bridge of her nose. Another cut straight through her eyebrow. Another barely skimmed her upper lip. And another ran down her jawline. It was hard to look at, but Percy had to. He had to know how much damage Hera did to her.

“About what?” he asked cautiously.

Annabeth’s eyes softened even more, glazing over again. “I don’t want you to hate me, Percy. I don’t want you to look at me like I screwed you over. I don’t want that. Please, don’t hate me.”

“I could never hate you, Annabeth Chase. Because I love you.”

“You still love me?” she asked, her entire body straightened from where she laid on her bed.

“You thought I could ever stop?” Percy asked, raising an eyebrow. It was a small, humorous gesture that Annabeth appreciated more than he would ever know.

“West was just a distraction, Percy, and I’m so sorry that I needed one,” she whispered to him. She expected Percy to become distant again, but he just nodded. “Do you forgive me?”

Percy’s lips pulled into his mouth, and he took a minute to think. Those few minutes drove Annabeth insane. I can’t live without him, she thought. I thought maybe I could love a normal demigod, like West, but there’s no way I can live without this flight risk. It’s Percy or it’s no one.

“No,” he answered. Her heart shattered. “I can’t forgive you right now, Wise Girl. Not yet.”

“But you might one day?” Annabeth’s voice shook with nerves.

“Well, considering I plan to spend the rest of my life with you, I’d say I have no choice.”

And they both smiled, as Annabeth shed a few tears of relief.

He’s my eternity, and I’m his.

AN: Almost 1.5k reads! Ah! I won't be posting again until I reach 50 reads on THIS chapter, so be sure to share with your friends! :) AND PLEASE, leave comments! 

ps: Happy endings never last forever ;)