You Give Liberty a Bad Name (a Percy Jackson AU)

Magnus Chase

Pennsylvania: July 31, 1776
Annabeth followed Percy Jackson across the camp. Her cheeks were still pink from the embarrassment of Percy finding her and Luke together. Luke has promised her privacy, but obviously, that was a promise he had not kept and perhaps should not have ever made.
     "How do you know my cousin?" Annabeth asked as she followed Percy.
     "We're near his tent," Percy said.
      "You didn't answer my question," Annabeth said.
      "So you're going to ask like a wise girl with me?" Percy asked.
       "Only because your brain is full of seaweed," Annabeth retorted. "I'm surprised that s coward like you did not enlist in the navy."
     Percy clenched his jaw.
      "I am not a coward," he said.
       "You seemed quite frightened when you saw me this morning," Annabeth said coolly.
     "Will you shut up?" someone from inside the tent yelled. "I'm trying to get some sleep. I'm not paid to stay up all day and night!"
      "I'll go speak with them, Alex," someone familiar said.
       Someone stumbled out of the tent. He was around the same height as Annabeth and had the same gray eyes and blonde hair, though his was shorter.
      "Annabeth?" he said cautiously.
       "Magnus!" Annabeth said.
     She ran over to her cousin and gave him a hug. She suspected that some onlookers would find this strange, but she had not seen him since she was seven years old. Both of them had been invited to a family dinner at Uncle Randolph's place. That was before his wife and two daughters had been killed in a shipwreck and he became bitter. That was before their family finally broke apart.
      Now, over a decade later, they were reunited. Annabeth was the first to break free of the embrace. She studied her cousin. His clothes were torn and his shoes were falling apart, but he looked unharmed save for a scratch on his leg. Magnus followed Annabeth's gaze towards his wound.
     "I tripped over a log," he said, "and these thorns caught hold of me. It's healing well."
      "Oh Magnus," Annabeth said. "I thought I'd never see you again."
     "And I you," Magnus said. "How are you, Percy?"
      "Good," Percy said. "How is Alex?"
        "I'm bloody amazing," said Alex as they clambered out of the tent.
     Alex was slighter than Magnus, but nearly the same height. Alex had striking, chiseled features, but what was most captivating about Alex's face were their eyes: they were each a different color. Annabeth studies the body language between Magnus and Alex. It seemed that they were very close.
      "Is T. J. alright?" Magnus asked.
       "He's asleep," Alex said, "and Halfborn is still cavorting with some woman named Mallory."
      "The one who beat Luke in a fist fight?" Percy asked.
      "The very same," Alex said with a smile.
        "I wish I could have seen that," Percy said.
         "It was epic," Alex said with a grin. "Mallory made him swear never to take fish from the women again."
      Annabeth frowned. That didn't seem like something Luke would do. He had given her shelter for the night and a meal. He seemed like an honorable man, didn't he? Annabeth shook away her thoughts and spent the day helping Magnus and his friends patch up their uniforms. It was good to have family again.