Percy Jackson One Shots and Short Stories

#9 - Game Night

#9 - Game Night
published: Monday, 3 September 2018

"Are you okay?" Piper tentatively slid into the vacant space beside her blonde friend. It was the first time since exiting Tartarus mere hours ago that Annabeth had been separated from Percy.

The guys had asked him if he wanted to join in on Call of Duty, and Annabeth insisted that he went.

"Yeah," Annabeth murmured distantly. She folded her hands together and took a shuddering breath. "So...what's happening with you guys?"

Piper exchanged glances with Hazel. "Okay. Um, I'm kind of worried that Jason might want to go back to Reyna." She immediately blushed. "Annabeth, I'm sorry, that was stupid, and-and selfish. You just got out of Tartarus and-"

"No, please," Annabeth said desperately. "I'm sick of being treated as fragile, so just act like you normally would." She sighed. "So, why would you be afraid of that?"

"I agree," Hazel piped up timidly. "I know I haven't known you guys for very long, but I've seen the way that Jason looks at you. He looks at you like you're the only thing he sees."

"I know." Piper fiddled with the end of her sleeve. "I'm probably just being paranoid, but...she's so-" Piper flailed her arms about to conceive some kind of speech. "-amazing, and so, so Roman."

Their three pairs of eyes flitted to the girl in question. The Roman praetor was standing at the railings of the boat, her head craned over the side as if to really feel the fresh air. Her eyes were unreadable, but that expression had been there since she'd been forced to put her pegasus Scipio out of his misery.

Hazel suddenly felt a jolt of deja vu, and she had to remind herself that her flashbacks didn't happen anymore. This felt too much like when she'd been ostracised in her previous life just because of rumours. "Maybe you'd feel better if we got to know her."

She stood up and walked towards Reyna, Annabeth and Piper in tow.

"Hey," Hazel greeted hesitantly. She didn't know Reyna personally, and had only looked up to her as a leader. "You looked slightly down, so we wanted to check on you."

Reyna looked so surprised yet grateful that Piper was instantly swarmed with guilt.

"I'm sorry about Scipio," Piper told her quietly.

Reyna tried for a dismissive shrug. "It-it's fine. It was better for him that way." She glanced at Annabeth. "May I ask-what was Tartarus like?"

Piper immediately opened her mouth to stop her, but Annabeth put up a hand.

"Don't worry," Annabeth said. She looked down at her feet. "You know, I thought that if I didn't talk about it, I could forget about it. But maybe talking about will help me accept that I'm finally out of that godforsaken cave." She chewed on her lower lip. "It was very...red. And dark. The air was like breathing acid and dust, and the ground was covered in shards of glass. The place was made to kill, yet Percy and I somehow survived."

"He's mentioned how strong you were," Reyna recalled. "I really admire you for getting out of there. And I'm sorry for, well, trying to kill you a couple of times."

"Water under the bridge," Annabeth joked half-heartedly.

"Listen, it is not my fault." Leo's protests echoed up the Argo II stairs, as a few footsteps approached the deck.

"You put it to idiot mode, and the entire machine explodes," Percy deadpanned. He shuffled to the right and slid his arm around Annabeth's waist.

"You made something else explode?" Piper demanded, her hands on her hips as she automatically switched to mother hen mode.