When We Were 'Us'

An Argument For the History Books- Third Person POV

[A/N I need a non-character specific point of view for this one,,, bUCKLE YOUR SEATBELTS NERDS (I say that lovingly)]

Percy stood up slowly, brushing off his jeans. His posture was stiff as he turned to Annabeth, staring her down silently for a few moments. She didn't drop her gaze, watching him evenly.

Cooper hauled himself to his feet, glaring at the daughter of Athena. "C'mon, Haley, I wanna see the cabin you used to live in."

"CJ, go find Freddie."

"What?"

"Find Freddie," Percy repeated flatly. "I'll join you when I'm done."

Cooper grumbled something derogatory under his breath about Annabeth and headed in the direction of the cabins after giving her a dirty look.

"So..." She looked at her ex, fiddling with the bracelet she was wearing. "Haley, huh? I thought you didn't like your middle name."

"Needed something that would distance me from you." He crossed his arms, his expression stony. "Make your case or get lost."

Annabeth winced a little at his tone, but reminded herself that he was entirely allowed to be angry with her after everything that happened.

"I need to apologize."

Percy grunted.

Knowing that he wasn't going to do her any favors, Annabeth pressed on. She just wanted to get this over with, have it all out in the open.

"I... didn't make... the best choice, in going about what I did," She said haltingly, watching Percy's face for a reaction. "If I had thought about it... more than I did, I suppose, maybe... maybe it wouldn't have been so bad. I'm sorry for doing it the way I did."

"But not for doing it." Percy raised an eyebrow sardonically.

Annabeth took a deep breath. "No. I made the right choice, I just... I was wrong in the way I did it."

She looked down, breaking eye contact with him and waiting. For something, anything from him that would tell her whether he had accepted the apology or not.

"That was painful to watch."

His voice was icy cold. Annabeth knew what was coming and braced herself.

"How long did it take you to accept that you were wrong?" Percy didn't move, but his tone was enough to essentially backhand her across the face. "Gods know you hate that. It killed you to even admit it, I can tell."

"Percy-"

"I'm not done. Don't try to pull some line about how you did what you could, you kissed another man on the day I was going to propose to you, you admitted that you'd been in a relationship with him already-"

"Don't bring Luke into this." Annabeth crossed her arms.

"I'm not," Percy sneered. to Annabeth it felt like a physical blow, the anger that dripped from his voice. "I'm calling you out for cheating on me. It's not his fault you couldn't get your act together enough to do things in the right order."

He turned away, staring at the canoe lake. The water was roiling furiously, and Percy's shoulders rose and fell rhythmically as he took several deep breaths. The waves stopped pounding against the sand.

"You know what my fatal flaw is."

Annabeth stayed quiet.

"And that is why you also know I'm not forgiving you." Percy turned back around, his expression flat again. "Accepting your apology, yes. Forgiving you? Hades no."

"Fine." She huffed, uncrossing her arms and standing straight. "I'm just trying to help-"

Percy scoffed. "Help what? Our relationship? There's not one left, Annabeth."

"You were my best friend, even before we started dating. I'm trying my best to at least fix what's still there, because there is some there-"

"No there isn't."

Those words cut like a knife, to both of them. Percy took a very slow, measured breath, feeling tears prick at his eyes the tiniest bit. He held them back by sheer power of will.

"At least I tried." Annabeth finally said, concealing the hurt in her own voice. "With what's happening tomorrow, I wanted to see if there was any progress that could be made. I guess not."

"Tomorrow? Oh great, you're going to." He rolled his eyes, voice heavy with sarcasm. "Let me guess, Aphrodite wants her 'favorite couple' back together, and you're going to agree with her to make my life Hades-."

"No." Annabeth set her jaw and took the three steps between them quickly, poking Percy's chest sharply. "I'm arguing your case."

She didn't have to take that kind of flat out attack from him, no matter what she had done. 

"My case?" Percy raised his eyebrows, looking sort of amused. "And what case would that be, Chase?"

Annabeth glared at him. "You don't even know, and you have the audacity to give me that attitude? Tomorrow you are walking into a trial, and you're lucky that your co-defendant asked me to argue for you two."

Now he looked bewildered. Annabeth stepped away from him.

"Tomorrow morning I am making a case to the Olympian Council so that you and Rachel Dare can pursue a relationship. You're freaking welcome, don't bother talking to me while I fix your love life. I'm doing it for Rachel anyway."

She turned around and marched off, fists clenched at her sides to keep herself from swiping at the tears starting to form.

Percy stared after her, an ugly mix of emotions twist in his chest. He looked down and grabbed a rock from the sand by his feet, hurling it out into the canoe lake as far as he could.