When It Fades To Black: Percabeth AU

The Edge

(All story line rights go to ChasingFreedoms)

Annabeth POV 

Percy placed me on Piper's bed and wraps me up in a blanket after I shiver involuntarily. Nico smiles faintly at me and Piper asks the question I know all three of the want the answer to. "What we're you doing, leaving like that." I shrug and play it cool.

"I was going to come back. But I've been trapped in a concrete room for a day and a half. I just wanted some fresh air." 

They believe me. Good. I look inquisitively in Nico's direction. 

"What are you doing here?" He shrugs, "I was worried when you weren't in class today. I stopped by your house to check you weren't sick or something. I kept looking when I couldn't find you in the house. I was in the basement when Piper and Percy showed up. Piper knocked me out. Thought I was someone else, I guess." 

Piper laughs sheepishly, and grins at Nico. 

*Time Lapse*

After  fighting with my friends for several hours, Percy takes me home. I know he doesn't want to, but they can't exactly hold me against my will. 

Percy walks me to the door and kisses me on the cheek before he drives away. I stand there in shock, and I slowly realize I'm grinning stupidly. I wipe the smile off my face and walk through the door. My dad isn't here because of his meeting, and I thank the gods for small mercies since I'm still in bad shape. I go upstairs, do all my homework, and go to bed. 

My peaceful sleep is interrupted by a loud banging on my door. I glance at the clock, 2 am. I smile. I got a whole 6 hours before my dad showed up. I remember locking my door and realize I can keep it locked. I could have one night to myself to heal. But I also know my father would kill me if that happened. Do I walk over and groggily open the door.

"About damn time," says the figure next to my father. The stranger hands my father a fifty dollar bill and shoves me back into my room, whispering, "Now you're mine for a whole five hours." 

I cried the whole time. More than I've ever cried before. He was gone now, but the bruises all over my body, the reminders would eventually fade. But the scars on my mind, they would never perish. Not unless... 

The nearest was miles away, but I had all day to walk. 

Percy POV

Annabeth hadn't been at school all day, and at lunch I had driven to her house, and she wasn't there. I checked the secret room Piper had found her in, searched for other secret rooms, but she just wasn't there. I knew where she was. Exactly where I had feared she go. At the end of the school day, we all split up and took a different sector of the city. I just hoped we would find her in time. 

Annabeth POV

Finally, I arrived at my destination, taking note of the architectural glory, and then just kept walking. I glanced at my phone for the time. It was 3:45 pm, and my friends had gotten out of school almost an hour ago. I thought about them for a while, but mostly I thought about all the pain I've ever experienced. Last night was the last and worst thing my mind faced. I glanced around, saw the beauty and resilience in the design of the bridge. Saw the life surrounding me, how it would continue on without a care of my being gone. I had wanted to die surrounded by beauty. For the first time in a long time, I could have something I wished for. 

With those thoughts in my mind, I set my phone, which contains my note, on the concrete sidewalk.

And then, I leaped over the railing of the Brooklyn Bridge, falling into the abyss of water stories below.