"Send me! Send an army! Send a thousand ships! I don't care, just bring her home. I hate being without her."
[ PERCY JACKSON x FEMALE OC ]
[ PERCY JACKSON SERIES ]
cover by @humaneity !
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0004. |THE FIELDS OF PUNISHMENT GROW VERY BOLD
Annabeth was worried about Octavia.
Worrying about her best friend had been pretty much a full time job ever since Octavia decided she wanted to be the next Hector (or whatever hero she was idolising that month). Annabeth had grown used to it, and other than her quest with her siblings to save Apollo, she hadn't had to worry too much. Octavia was a bit like a cat, always landing on her feet and never staying injured for long.
That was, until recently. Annabeth regretted not having returned to Camp faster. Home with her dad had been miserable, and her step-mom had been as awful as ever. She wasn't comfortable around them and she had wanted to leave sooner, but she thought she should stick it out if she was actually going to put in any effort. But now, returning to Camp... Annabeth realised she should have been there, where her real home was.
Everything she had grown familiar with was gone.
Chiron was fired, accused of something he so clearly hadn't committed; the memory of Thalia was dying, poisoned by someone murderous; Grover was away on his search for Pan with no end date; Octavia was being bullied and was utterly exhausted all the time; and worst of it all, Luke was gone.
Annabeth hated to say it but she missed him. She knew what he was doing was wrong, but she knew it was just because he was angry. Luke had always been angry at the Gods, and after what he had been through on his quest, she could sympathise why he felt that way. She just wanted him to see sense! She wanted him to come home. She missed him and more than her small (eensy, tiny, almost non-existent!) crush on him.
Even though Percy couldn't talk about Luke without arguing, and Octavia refused to even speak about him, Annabeth missed him. She missed what he had meant to them. She hated that Octavia hadn't talked about it with her. It was like she was pretending it never happened.
The logical, driving part of Annabeth knew it was because Octavia was hurt. Annabeth was hurt too. She still couldn't believe that his hatred of the Gods overruled his love for them. She had thought they meant more to him than that. She knew Octavia had thought the same.
But the emotional, hidden part of Annabeth knew something more that had hurt her feelings. Luke had offered Octavia to come with him. He hadn't thought of Annabeth at all, only of Octavia. It was classic Luke, just like when they were kids. Annabeth was Thalia's favourite, and Octavia was always Luke's. He never made a secret of it, but it still killed her.
Just once, she wanted him to look at her the way he looked at Octavia.
Annabeth hated to be jealous of Octavia, she had learned long ago that it got her nowhere and that Octavia was a better friend than she was a rival, but it still bugged her. It bugged her when she was so oblivious about the effect she had on people, boys especially. Boys loved Octavia, whether they knew it or not. It was why Percy had so easily developed his silly crush, or Travis, or half the boys in Annabeth's cabin, or the other campers, and it was why Luke was always so doting on her.
