Percabeth Oneshots

Alright

***Warning: Just as a heads up, the following work may be potentially triggering to some readers. Deals with panic attacks or something close to it? (idk i'm not an expert, i'm just writing from personal experience)

In the shower, I let the warm water rush over me. I washed my hair with shampoo and conditioner then moved onto body wash.

I started with my legs and slowly worked my way up to the rest of my body. Every speck of dirt and the grime of sweat coming off with no issue. It wasn't until I reached my arms where I noticed a problem; the dirt wasn't coming off.

I scrubbed and scrubbed with no success. The dirt stuck even as my arms turned red from irritation.

"What?" I questioned aloud, my voice flat and even. I continued to scrub with no luck.

Suddenly, I heard a knock at the bathroom door. I called out for them to come in, continuing in my pursuit to scrub the dirt from my arms.

"Annabeth?" Hazel called out to me with a concerned tone. "Is everything alright in here?"

"I can't get the dirt off," I said to her. This time, however, my voice and breathing were different. My voice shook as it caught on the frantic words I yelled to Hazel, and my breath came out in pants that were panicked and uneven. What is happening to me?

But then my vision changed too.

Instead of my arms slightly red with some dirt, there were nail scratches running up and down my arms, coating my arms in a burning red. Not only that, but the dirt on my arms multiplied. All the sudden, we were down there again fighting for our lives. The longer we were there, the more dirt and grim that covered us until it eventually started to suffocate.

"Oh my gods, Hazel, get it off of me! Get it off, please!" I yelled with desperation lacing through my voice. I continued clawing at the dirt on my arms so hard I was afraid they might start to bleed. Hazel quickly entered the rest of the way in my bathroom, grabbing my towel as she came in. Somewhere, I heard steps running in the direction of my bathroom, but I kept my undivided attention to the dirt on my angry red arms. I barely registered Hazel turning off the shower head or her wrapping me in my towel, but I did register when she tried taking my hands in hers to prevent my clawing. "No, I need to get it off!"

Even without the shower on, water continued to stream down my face. This successfully blurred my vision and made it difficult for me to fully see Hazel as she spoke to me. "Annabeth, stop! You're hurting yourself!"

I struggled in her grip. "I have to get the dirt off, Hazel! I have to! Please!"

I continued pleading with Hazel as I fought to break free of her. Couldn't she see the dirt on my arms? Couldn't she see how it was multiplying the longer she held my wrists hostage to prevent my hands from scratching?

Hazel shook her head, and through my clouded vision, I could see tears dripping down her face as she switched her focus from me, to my arms, to the bathroom door, and back to me again in a cycle. She let out a sigh of relief as she heard the running sound from right outside my door.

Percy was the first to barge in, Riptide in his hand ready to be released from pen form. The rest of the seven arrived milliseconds after, but upon reaching the scene and seeing my current state, only Piper came in. Jason, Leo, and Frank huddled at the door to respect my privacy, but still ready to come in to help at a moment's notice.

Percy and Piper jumped straight into action. Piper ran over to where a crying, yet determined Hazel was stood in front of me. Against my cries of protests, Piper took over holding my wrists to prevent me from scratching. Hazel, despite crying and looking terrified, hesitated on leaving. It wasn't until Piper gave her a nod of assurance that she walked over to the boys to be comforted by Frank. Percy, on the other hand, positioned himself next to my side and wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Hey, hey, I got you," Percy's lips whispered into my ear as I continued to fight to free myself, this time from Piper's steadier hands. "I'm right here. You're safe with me here on the Argo II. We're not there anymore."

Reality began to set in once more as Percy continued to repeat words of comfort and Piper used her charmspeak to help me stop fighting her and the need to scratch. I discovered that the previously unknown source of water had been my tears, and those subsided from a steady stream to a slow dripping. The tension released from my body, allowing me to relax into Percy's embrace and close my eyes.

Once she felt like I was calm enough, Piper lightly let go of her grip on my arms and walked away from Percy and me while mumbling something about clothes. Percy held onto me, fully supporting my weight as I leaned into him. The soft mutters of assurance continued until I believed his words and could think them for myself.

I'm okay.

Percy's alright.

He's right here.

We're safe on the Argo II.

We're not in Tartarus anymore.

I opened my eyes to see Piper in front of me with my sweatpants and a sweatshirt I'd stolen from Percy. Upon recognizing his sweatshirt, Percy chuckled and kissed my temple, but otherwise didn't seem to care about my thievery. He helped me get dressed in my sweats, while keeping a protective hand on me at all times.

"Thanks guys, but I think we got it from here," Percy said to the rest of the seven. They voiced short messages of support for me, Piper even giving my hand a squeeze, before walking back to whatever they had been doing before.

Percy held me in the bathroom in silence for a while before I finally spoke again. "I'm sorry."

Percy let out a breath of disapproval. "Now why would you ever be sorry?"

"I don't know, Percy. I just am," I said.

"You don't have anything to be sorry about, Annabeth. Jason, Piper, Hazel, Frank, Leo, and me-- we all get it, especially me. Gods Annabeth, if any of them were apologizing after experiencing something like this, you'd ring their neck."

"Did you even see Hazel's face? She was terrified."

"For you, Wise Girl. Hazel was terrified for you because she understands what you were going through and she loves you. All of them do. You really think six demigods would come running to your aid like that if that wasn't the case?"

I stayed quiet. Partly because I knew he was right, partly because I didn't want to fight, and partly because I was so exhausted I felt like I was just in battle with Kronos and Tartarus again.

Sensing this exhaustion, Percy took my hand and started to lead me out of the bathroom of tears. "Let's go chill out in my room. I think we both need a change of scenery."

And for the first time in what felt like forever, I smiled. "Sounds like a plan worthy of Athena to me."

***

A/N: I love doing this thing where I want to and should be doing something else (*cough cough* SMNP), but then doing something like this instead. What can I say? Gotta strike exactly when the inspo hits otherwise you go on a months-long hiatus.

Written and Published: 12/28/23
Word Count: 1306 words