seasickness ~ percabeth

Chapter 1 (Annabeth)

Dedicated to kcamp0509 because this has been sitting in my drafts for months and she made me post it :)

(Annabeth's POV)

I was deep in thought, working on this architecture project assigned to me from Olympus. I've been busy for a while, and this is the first free time I've had since the war.

I kept designing and redesigning the structure, never happy with how it turned out, when I felt eyes on me.

I turned around and saw Percy standing in the shadow of the doorway.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain. Whatcha up to?" I asked. He didn't move. Something was wrong.

I got up from my chair and slowly approached him. He was still as a statue, which was unusual. His ADHD always had him moving in some fashion.

But no, he stood there silently. I realized, as I got closer, that silent tears were running down his face. They wouldn't stop.

Worried, I ran up to him.

"Percy, what's wrong?" I asked softly, wiping a tear from his eye. They just kept coming, his eyes filled with pain.

Then he slammed his lips to mine, and I tasted the salt from his tears. He gently rested his hands on the back of my neck. I was surprised, but kissed him back, tangling my hands in his hair. He kissed me like he'd never see me again.

He broke away with a small gasp, the first noise I had heard him make. He pressed his forehead against mine and started to shake with the force of his sobs, but he never made a sound. Not once.

"Percy, you're scaring me. What's going on?" I whispered, terrified.

Percy still said nothing, but pulled away from me with a shudder. He wouldn't meet my eyes. Tears still ran down his face.

"Annabeth-" he choked out, his voice filled with pain and longing. He took a deep breath.

At this point, I was really fucking scared. I ran a mental list of people who could've died. Piper? Grover? Hazel? Frank?

Percy hugged himself, and tried again.

"Annabeth, we- we can't be together anymore," Percy's voice broke, and I froze. Did he just say what I think he just said?

"What?" I whispered, totally caught off guard.

"I can't... I can't..." Percy started hyperventilating.

"I'm sorry. I'm doing this for you," he managed to choke out, and then he disappeared. Ran out. Gone.

I stood in the doorway for a long time. It could've been minutes. It could've been hours. I just kept replaying the moment in my head.

"Annabeth, we- we can't be together anymore," Percy's broken voice repeated, over and over and over. Maybe I was crying. I'm not sure. All I know is that it felt I had gotten run over with a truck.

I somehow made it to the Aphrodite cabin. I don't know how I got there. One moment I was standing in the doorway where my heart had been crushed into a million tiny little pieces, and the next I was knocking on the door.

One of Piper's siblings answered. They frowned, and asked, "you here to see Piper?"

I nodded. I felt like my soul had drifted out of my body. I was numb with shock.

I barely registered Piper coming to the door. She looked concerned.

"Annabeth? What's going on?"

I couldn't seem to make a sound. My mouth opened, but it was like my voice was gone.

Piper frowned in worry and grabbed my hand. She dragged me to a secluded spot in the woods, where she plopped me down and said, "spill. What's wrong?"

It was like a dam breaking loose. Tears came rushing out like a waterfall and I shook with sadness and anger. I buried my head in my hands and cried, my sobs echoing throughout the forest.

"Oh my gods, Annabeth, what happened?" Piper sounded frightened, and I couldn't blame her.

"Percy- he-" I couldn't force the words out of my mouth. Piper just nodded and rubbed my back comfortingly, until I stopped crying. I don't know how long I was broken down for.

"Ok. Tell me what happened, from the beginning," she instructed, using her charmspeak. I felt the story flow from my lips.

"It was Percy. I was working on something, and he was just standing in the doorway, crying. I didn't- I didn't know what was going on. He was scaring me. He looked so sad, and then he kissed me. Then- then he broke up with me?" My voice rose, and Piper looked stricken.

"He did what?" She whispered, unknowingly pouring charmspeak into her words.

"He... he broke up with me. He said, 'Annabeth, we- we can't be together anymore. I'm sorry. I'm doing this for you.' And then he left. I don't- I don't understand." My voice broke, and I buried my head in my hands.

Suddenly I shot up, all tears forgotten.

"No, it's a prank. Definitely. There no way that he'd- no. There has to be some explanation," I grasped at straws.

"Annabeth, I'm sorry," Piper said in a low voice, and I grabbed her hand, holding it tightly.

"No. It didn't... it didn't actually happen. This is a dream. Yeah. This isn't really happening right now," I said confidently, and Piper shook her head.

I held my head in my hands, and I cried.