Something about that glory just always seemed to bore me, cuz only those I really love will ever really know me
Saving the world once wasn't enough, Annabeth guessed, as she boarded the Argo II with her new team, on their way to New Rome. Having one group of demigods also wasn't enough. There were Romans and Athena was furious and Annabeth suddenly was not her favourite child, or at least it didn't feel like it anymore. Sure, she had the quest for the Mark, but as much as she tried to forget the fact, Annabeth knew she only had it because she was the only one who could handle it, who had proven she could in the past. Athena didn't give it to her for any other reason, and Annabeth hated it but she had to respect the pure logic behind the decision.
Disowned and without Percy, it was almost back to square one again. She didn't remember when she had last slept and she didn't think she would be able to with the coin burning in her pocket (she wished she'd thrown it away, then maybe the nightmares wouldn't have come). The others tried to work with her, comfort her as they sailed to California, but they didn't know her and they couldn't help. Only Percy could bring back her smile and anyone else trying was a waste of time.
She was starting to believe what Luke had once told her, when she'd been struggling under the sky on Mount Orthrys. "You're stupid, Annabeth, if you think glory with Olympus is worth all the problems it comes with." It had caused problems and as they sailed to the Ancient Lands on this quest that could kill them again, she wondered if maybe she'd aimed too high and maybe it would have been better if she had simply been like the rest. Maybe being the greatest was a bad choice- maybe she should have stayed average. But then again, didn't the brightest stars always die the sooner and did they ever die or just create black holes and nebulas that mattered more than the star had?
She would have turned, maybe confronted, even fought her mother because Annabeth's trust in her had been broken and that was grief, and Annabeth did not deal well with grief. She still cried over Luke sometimes. Percy hated it. He'd frown and look sad because her tears hurt him and she'd give him a watery smile and he'd hug her tight and she was reminded of why she loved him, why Luke had not been the end for her. He had never stayed, but Percy would. He would stay and she knew it.
He fell with her. He threw himself into Tartarus, willingly, for her. So they wouldn't be separated. So she wouldn't be alone. And even as they fell, Annabeth felt thankful she had found him. She wouldn't survive on her own, but with him? Percy kept her alive.
"I love you," she whispered and a tear trickled down her cheek because she had hurt the person she loved. She had worked so hard never to do that but even in all her greatness, Annabeth Chase could not stop fate and could not beat destiny. And they fell and they fell hard and when they came out, they were stronger but more broken. A perilous combination that put her on edge because she had always been broken but this brokenness she could not hide like the others. It was far too dangerously raw and consuming and it was like jagged pieces trying to rip their way out of her and sometimes her heart felt so full of that fire, she was sure she would die, but of course she never did, because brokenness doesn't kill, it just maims (hopelessness kills, but even after Tartarus, Annabeth still had that and she clung to it desperately, to the hopes of a future with Percy).
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7 Years: Annabeth's Story
Fanfiction"She would force them to notice her, to have them stand in the shadows of her glory and look up at the buildings she made, and she would be remembered. They had ignored seven year old her, but they would have no choice to do that with her now. (and...
