You'll Learn to Love Me (Leo Valdez x OC)

Chapter 76: Fear and Despair

An hour later, Annabeth, Piper and Laylana stood on a hill overlooking the ruins of Ancient Sparta. They'd already scouted the modern city, which, strangely, reminded Piper of Albuquerque – a bunch of low, boxy, whitewashed buildings sprawled across a plain at the foot of some purplish mountains. Annabeth had insisted on checking the archaeology museum, then the giant metal statue of the Spartan warrior in the public square, then the National Museum of Olives and Olive Oil. Laylana had learned more about olive oil than she ever wanted to know, but no giants attacked them. They found no statues of chained gods.

Annabeth seemed reluctant to check the ruins on the edge of town, but finally they ran out of other places to look. There wasn't much to see. According to Annabeth, the hill they stood on had once been Sparta's acropolis – its highest point and main fortress. The weathered slope was covered with dead grass, rocks and stunted olive trees. Below, ruins stretched out for maybe a quarter of a mile: limestone blocks, a few broken walls and some tiled holes in the ground like wells.

Laylana knew only bits and pieces about Sparta, but she liked what she heard for the most part. They were said to be some of the fiercest warriors, and were relatively progressive for Ancient Greek times. She read somewhere that woman ruled over their men, and that made Laylana instantly want to visit the place. Though, now that she was here, she felt more off-put than she thought. The sun beating down on her didn't seem to help much.

Piper wiped the sweat from her forehead. "You'd think if there was a thirty-foot-tall giant around we'd see him."

Annabeth stared at the distant shape of the Argo II floating above downtown Sparta. She fingered the red coral pendant on her necklace – a gift from Percy when they started dating.

"You're thinking about Percy," Piper guessed.

Annabeth nodded. Since she'd come back from Tartarus, Annabeth had told Piper and Laylana a lot of scary things that had happened down there. At the top of her list: Percy controlling a tide of poison and suffocating the goddess Akhlys. It scared Laylana when Annabeth described, in detail, what her brother did. Laylana knew Percy was powerful, and he can be scary if he wants to be. But that definitely was taking it very far. What he did was borderline torture. And yes, it was to a bitch that tried to kill both him and Annabeth, but Laylana knew that it was scary to watch either way.

"He seems to be adjusting," Piper said. "He's smiling more often. You know he cares about you more than ever."

Annabeth sat, her face suddenly pale. "I know that is partially for Layla, she's been helping the both of us settle back here. But I don't know why it's hitting me so hard all of a sudden. I can't quite get that memory out of my head... how Percy looked when he was standing at the edge of Chaos."

Maybe Laylana was just picking up on Annabeth's uneasiness, but she started to feel agitated as well. True, she spent nearly every night with either Percy or Annabeth to help them through nightmares, or ease them back into their lives on the boat. If anyone knew something about PTSD, it was her. Of course, she didn't know exactly what it was like in Tartarus, but she had some ideas. 

"Give him time." Laylana and Piper sat next to Annabeth as Laylana spoke. "Annabeth, I've seen Percy have crushes before but those were nothing compared to what he was like when he met you. He is crazy about you. You've been through so much together."

"I know... You were there for most of it Layla, don't think it was just us." Annabeth nudged Laylana's shoulder. "It's just... Bob the Titan, he warned me there would be more sacrifices ahead. I want to believe we can have a normal life someday... But I allowed myself to hope for that last summer, after the Titan War. Then I found out how badly injured Laylana was. Then Percy disappeared for months. Then we fell into that pit..." A tear traced its way down her cheek. "If you'd seen the face of the god Tartarus, all swirling darkness, devouring monsters and vaporizing them – I've never felt so helpless. I try not to think about it..."