Given to Fly (PJ/MR Crossover)

Book 1: Chapter IX

A/N: Hiya, people. Here's another chapter.

Enjoy!

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Annabeth

Today was Christmas. December 25, the happiest day of the year. Children waited months for this very holiday. They eagerly anticipated the sugar cookies, candy canes, and boundless presents that awaited them on this time of year. Christmas: the day for cheeriness and hope - after all, the saying was "Merry Christmas." Except, I wasn't feeling very merry right now.

It was Christmas. I still didn't  understand why we celebrated it. It's a Christian holiday - Jesus' birthday - but we were the furthest thing from Christian. Our parents were gods, so it kind of disproved the whole 'one true God' spiel. Nevertheless, demigods continued to celebrate the winter holiday. Maybe it was just because of the thought behind it? The idea of giving presents to loved ones to show how much you cared. Or maybe it was because of the lesser known fact of Christmas's true pagan roots.

None of that mattered, however. I wasn't celebrating regardless. Today marked a full week of my boyfriend's disappearance (seven days, two hours, and fifty-four minutes, to be precise). Today also marked the second Christmas in a row in which Percy had been MIA. My mind was completely numb. I had shoved all my emotions down, locked them in a small box, and threw away the key. If I paused for one second to think about what had happened to the person I cared about the most - and how utterly alone I felt without him - I knew I'd shut down completely.

So, I'd become a shell of myself, going through the motions but not really feeling anything. It was a defense mechanism. I was experiencing textbook Suppression - intentionally pushing unpleasant thoughts from one's mind. Yes, I acknowledged the fact that it was unhealthy for my mental state, but if I allowed the feelings in - feelings of loss, desperation, anger, grief, fear, devastation - my head would explode. It would be reminiscent of the opening of Pandora's Box. But Annabeth Chase was not going to have a mental breakdown when she had a boyfriend to find and hundreds of demigods counting on her.

At the present, I was sitting in the Jackson-Blofis living room on the couch. Sally was sitting across from me in a chair holding a cup of hot chocolate. My own mug was on the coffee table untouched, right next to a platter of blue chocolate chip cookies. Seeing the cookies, I had to swallow the lump in my throat that formed. They were his favorite...

I snapped myself out of it before the tears could fall. I'd already cried myself silly. I cried every night when he wasn't there beside me, when I didn't wake up to his ocean-breeze scent, when I would look to my side to see the empty space where he used to be... I'd cried so much that I thought my tear ducts would burst. No, I was done crying. I needed to be strong now, especially in front of Sally. Dear Sally, who lost her son not once, but twice. All because I couldn't save him.

No, Annabeth. Don't think like that, I firmly told myself. There's nothing you could've done to stop it. Except, there was. And I didn't think I was fooling anyone, much less myself.

Sally cleared her throat, and it was only then that I realized I'd been staring off into space for a couple of minutes. I mentally shook myself before turning my eyes on her. "Do you want any marshmallows?" She asked kindly.

"No, thank you, Sally." She hated it when I called her Mrs. Blofis or Ms. Jackson. Plus, we had gotten closer due to Percy's previous kidnapping, so we were on friendly terms. I admired the woman greatly; she had already accepted me as her own and treated me almost like a daughter.

Not wanting to be rude, I grabbed my mug (it was a blue Little Mermaid cup; I tried not to think of who it belonged to) and took a sip of it. Rich hot chocolate poured down my throat, causing my eyes to drift shut. Percy's mother made the best hot chocolate - perfect chocolate to whipped cream ratio, plus she added a sprinkle of cinnamon. After two more sips of the warm beverage, I set it back down on the table.