PERCABETH ONESHOTS

oneshot #59 : missing piece pt. 2

Annabeth stared at Percy, feeling more helpless than she ever had. The possibility of him not remembering her, not remembering them, had always lingered somewhere at the back of her mind. And as scared as she'd been of it, she thought she could handle it. Really, she thought she could handle anything.

Her fatal flaw sucked.

Because Annabeth shouldn't be feeling this crushed, this let down.

"You don't remember me?"

Percy's eyes found her again, searching her face for anything recognizable. He seemed to be trying really hard. "I. . .no, not really. I'm--I'm sorry, I didn't think--"

"That's fine," Annabeth muttered, cutting him off. She realized this was an extremely bad start to their arrival at Camp Jupiter, and she had to amend her mistake, no matter what she was feeling. "It's fine." She scoured her mind for a solution.

A solution to what, though?

Hera, her wonderful Majesty, was a goddess. Nothing she did could be outdone by a mere daughter of Athena, with nothing but lethal logic and a stupid dagger.

Annabeth couldn't do this.

Not here, not right now. She was surrounded by dangerous people in unknown territory, being stared down by more than one praetor. Even if the exploding statue, Terminus, didn't allow weapons here, nothing could guarantee their safety. And this quest was important, incredibly important.

Annabeth Chase, the calm, cool, and collected daughter of Athena, was panicking.

"Annabeth?" Jason muttered. "Are you--"

"Greeks," Reyna announced, "we have a lot to discuss!" She didn't take her eyes away from Annabeth as she called out, "Centurions! Tell the legion to stand down. Dakota, alert the spirits in the kitchen. Have them prepare a welcome feast. We will eat here, in the forum." The praetor gave a few more orders (including a particularly firm one to a scrawny blond who complained loudly) and turned to walk, Jason by her side as he introduced the rest of their small crew.

"Annabeth!"

Tyson bounded over with the hellhound at his heels, stopping beside Percy and Annabeth. He wrapped his large arms around Annabeth and gave her a crushing hug while Mrs. O'Leary licked her hand excitedly.

"Familiar face, huh?" Percy tilted his head, watching them. "Um, Annabeth? Can I ask who you are?"

Annabeth stayed tense like a stick in Tyson's embrace, her eyes sill wide. She was glad Jason had taken over and Reyna was off her back, but that was about it. She swallowed and felt a painful lump in her throat, felt the tears welling in her eyes. But she pushed the overwhelming emotion away and tried to make sense of the situation.

"You--You remember Tyson? And Mrs. O'Leary?"

Percy nodded as if it were obvious. "When my memory returned, they were some of the first to come back. But. . .am I supposed to know you?"

Annabeth opened her mouth and closed it wordlessly. Her gaze fell to the ground. "I would think so. We. . ."

She trailed off and there was silence between them, the bustling of demigods surrounding them. Tyson looked between the two of them and clicked his tongue, calling for Mrs. O'Leary to follow him as he inched away. He may be a cyclops, and he loved Annabeth, but he knew his brother and the daughter of Athena had something special. He'd never seen Annabeth like this. He was never good at serious conversations, anyway.

"You're the missing piece!" Percy suddenly exclaimed, grabbing onto her arms in his revelation.

Annabeth's eyes widened and she stared at him, taken aback at the sudden action. She wasn't quite sure what to feel in that moment -- Percy was acting like himself, he was himself.

He was just Percy without Annabeth.

Percy stared hopefully at her, before realizing his exclamation was a bit more aggressive than he had intended. He released her arms and stepped back, standing awkwardly with his hands at his sides. Clearing his throat, he looked around. "I. . .here, let's go somewhere else. Then maybe you can help me."

Annabeth stood still for a moment, but stumbled forward when Percy reached over and grabbed her hand, pulling her along behind him. 

"I don't know who you are," Percy called over his shoulder as he ran, pausing for breaths. "But I know you're important."

Annabeth furrowed her brow, catching herself before she could trip over a root sticking up from the ground. Important.

Heck yeah, she was. She was his girlfriend. 

The crushing feeling had begun to dissipate, and now she felt the anger pooling in her stomach. She and Percy had something incredible, something unforgettable, and of course the gods had to go and screw it up. Was she supposed to be happy?

She couldn't afford to be sad, either. That wouldn't help them figure anything out.

So anger took her over, accompanied by an overwhelming wave of determination, the kind Annabeth would get when looking for Percy after losing all of her leads (not that she'd had many). As much as she felt like crying and running, she would never leave Percy. She lost him, found him, and wasn't going to rest until he was Percy with Annabeth. 

Not until she had her Seaweed Brain back.

And the fact that he was running away from the food was a good sign. It meant he was focused, it meant he was ready to fix something. During their four months of dating, the only time Percy would ignore food was when something involved Annabeth herself. She'd been impressed -- she'd rarely gotten to see him like that, even during their quests. His ADHD mind couldn't handle much more than a couple of things, so he usually chose to focus on what he could.

Then again, in the few times Percy was forced to ditch a meal, it usually didn't mean anything good -- it was the sign of something big happening.

"Come on, I don't want to miss dinner! Let me tell ya, the Romans sure know how to eat."

Annabeth's eyebrows raised, and she let the first bit of hope enter her heart since she'd stepped onto the Argo II earlier.

Percy was here. She found him. They were reunited.

Step one, complete. 

Now all she had to do was figure out what in the Hades he'd meant when he said "missing piece."

a / n

part three coming by thursday ! sorry not sorry ;)

yours in demigodishness and all that,

~ grace 💙🍪💙🍪💙🍪💙