Fatal Flaw

Chapter 13 - When Someone Gets Hurt

I DO NOT OWN PJO OR MARVEL CHARACTERS

ANNABETH'S POV:

I didn't get any chance to talk to Percy before we landed in Wakanda. I was still so amazed that I was in the beautiful city that I didn't even catch him as he went to his room. I sighed as one of the guards led me to my room. But I didn't stop to check it out, instead I went to the library. I stayed there, reading, rereading and triple reading each text of Ancient Greece that was ever recorded and in the Wakandan library. I buried my nose into many of the books and before I knew it, it was already dusk. A soft breeze crept in through the window and turned pages in a certain book. It finally stopped at a particularly interesting mythological creature. A vampire. I squinted at the page, my fingers traced the picture of the Vampire King, Dracula.

Another breeze flew by, opening a different book and turning the pages until it stopped. It was on the Norse goddess of death, Hela. I stared at the two books for hours, waiting for something in my head to click and figure out why the two pages were shown to me.

Hela.

Dracula.

Hela is a bad guy.

Dracula is a bad guy.

Hela and Dracula are both evil...

Both have to do with death and taking over.

"Oh my gods." I whispered to myself. "Hela and Dracula are working together."

"Glad you figured it out." A voice rang out. I jumped up, holding out my knife, prepared for any and all attack. A dark laugh responded to my reaction. "Put that away, kid. I'm on your side." Gripping my knife harder, I let out a low growl. "God. I thought you were the smart one."

"Excuse me?" I sputtered.

A figure slid off of one of the higher shelves and landed softly onto the ground. "I was the one who helped you find those pages. Now why would I help you if I intended to kill you?"

"Easy. So you can get me to trust then kill me easier." I responded. Another laugh.

"If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead. Trust me." In the darkness, my light source sparkled off a pair of sharp fangs snarling at me. I gasped, stumbling back and dropping my knife. This time, they gave a genuine laugh. "Wow. That was so pathetic."

I stood, brushing myself off and collecting the books. "Look, I don't mean to be rude but I really need to go and tell everyone what you helped me figure out. And then I need to talk to Percy..." my voice trailed off at his name. It hurt. I had hurt him and it hurt me. It killed a part of me every time I thought of his eyes when he looked at me. The look of despair and betrayal that had filled his eyes just moments before he was kidnapped. I had caused that pain he felt. I was responsible.

"I don't think he'll forgive you." The person said, interrupting my thoughts.

I pressed the books into my chest. "And what do you know? You don't even know him!"

The person sighed and I realized it was a woman. "When someone gets hurt the way you hurt him...it's hard to explain. But you can't get forgiveness as quickly as you want. It's unlikely to happen." She went silent. "Annabeth Chase, you don't deserve Jackson's forgiveness. You may not be the villain but you need to stop pretending like you're a victim." I stared at her and for the first time in a while, I was at a loss for words. It felt as if I were a bird with no tune to sing. She turned away from me and disappeared out the window. For the first time, I truly hit the reality of what my actions had done and I fell to the floor, sobbing.

EVIE'S POV:

I wasn't being mean. I was telling her the truth. Annabeth made a bad call and caused Percy to be in so much pain that he faked his death. I paused for a moment in front of Percy's door, debating on whether or not I should talk to him and apologize for being a shitty person.

"Hey!" A voice coming toward me whispered. It was Hailey.

"Oh! H-hey!" I replied.

"Why aren't you going in there?"

I looked up at the ceiling. "We're not that close to have personal conversations with each other. It's only been a few weeks since we've known each other."

She shrugged her shoulders. "True." I looked out of the corner of my eye at her. "But you've already been through a lot together, monster attacks and that sort of shit." We smirked in unison. "And you told him your life story pretty much the first hour you knew him."

"H-how did you know?" I stuttered, turning my head to look at Hailey.

"He told me." She replied bluntly.

Nodding, I faced back to the door again. "I don't know who to blame more. Annabeth and her friends, or the gods."

"Well, it's like the Eurydice and Orpheus situation in the musical Hadestown." Hailey pointed out. I cocked my and looked back at her again. "Eurydice went to the Underworld, selling her soul to Hades because she needed to survive and Orpheus looked back, causing Eurydice to go back to the Underworld when she had the chance to escape. So who's fault was it in the end? Who was the one that doomed their future together?"

I rolled my eyes. "Wouldn't it be Eurydice's fault since she shouldn't have gone down to the Underworld in the first place?"

"Ah, but here's the thing. Eurydice's decision was a survival instinct whereas Orpheus's decision was the cause of doubt and anxiety."

"It's Eurydice's fault. Survival instinct is just anxiety that helps you out for a bit but in the long run it winds up biting you in the ass and everything becomes your fault."

Hailey became silent. She stayed that way for a while. I turned away from her and began to walk away. I was almost to the end of the hallway before I felt her hand gently grasp onto mine. I gasped, turning around to look at her. She gazed into my eyes and smiled softly.

"H-hi..." I stuttered again, making her giggle.

After giving my hand a squeeze, her hand slipped away from my grip and she began to back away, leaving me. "Go check up on Percy. He needs someone to talk to I'm sure." She disappeared into the shadows as I stood there, in shock. My heart was pounding.

My heart was pounding...

My heart...

Was...

Beating?

How was that possible?

I shook away the thought and knocked on his door.

"Come in."

I entered. "I just wanted to apologize for-"

"I'm sorry too..." he interrupted. "If we're gonna be a team, we need to be a team. We can't be at each other's throats the entire time." I nodded, sitting down. "In all honesty...I don't want to be here anymore. I'm kind of done with everything. Fights. Deaths. Kills. I wish they could just disappear." I pursed my lips. All was silent for the longest time.

"Those things don't ever disappear..." I replied. He looked down glumly and sighed. "But...we could..."