Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The barrier went down.

Percy laughed crazily as he left the Isle.

He promised himself that he would forever be free.

Watch out, Auradon.

Disgusting.

How dare Prince Ben, and that filthy, rotten girl let those Isle people be part of Auradon. 

The audacity.

Anger filled Annabeth at their stupidity. 

Chapter Text

Uma grabbed Percy’s arm. “Come on. You need to know how to get around here. I won’t have you embarrassing me.” 

He forced his mouth into a devious grin. “And spread some chaos on our way?”

Uma laughed. “I’m ditching you after you know where to go. Can’t be seen with a loser. But they’ll make you start school soon, probably. I think old Fairy Godmother was trying to get kids in as soon as possible so y’all have a place to stay. Auradon Prep can only fit so much, though, so I don’t know exactly how they’re doing that.”

Percy groaned. “School? I finally got off the Isle and I have to go to school?”

Uma’s lips tugged upwards in a satisfactory smirk. “Why of course.”

“Do you at least have to go too?”

Her smirk quickly faded. “Yes. But only for a year.”

“Ha.” He put all the smugness he could into his words. “At least I’m not the only one that still has to face some sick, twisted punishment.”

“You would have had Piper anyway.”

“Duh. Wouldn’t go if she wasn’t coming. Is it even legal for them to make us go?”

Uma said, “Since when has your mind been on what’s legal?”

He scowled. “My mind is on what benefits me.”

“As it should be. You have to finish all the years in school, whether it be Dragon Hall or Auradon Prep. I’m in year twelve, the final year. They’ll probably place you in year ten or eleven. What year did you finish last?”

“Half way through year ten.”

“So you’ll pick up where you left off, just with some different, better to learn things.” Her eyes widened. “I see Harry. Can’t have him see my wimp of a brother.”

Percy teased, “That’s because you like him.”

Uma practically growled. “Shut up if you want to keep your bones intact. I have a reputation to uphold.”

Her anger only served to make him braver. “What reputation? Oh, you mean that one of being,” he paused, letting the pressure build up, “shrimpy?”

Uma’s breath came out in heavy spurts. “Why, you, you little—ugh! Never mind showing you around. I’m going.”

While the insult had lost Percy his guide, it had been more than worth it.

He wiggled his fingers in a silly wave. “Toodaloo!”

Her eyes narrowed, but she knew better than to give him the satisfaction of an answer, instead walking away slowly.

Percy looked around for Piper. They had gotten separated in the swarm of people(and other types of beings).

When he didn’t immediately see her, he grabbed a boy’s shirt close to him. “Have you seen a girl, not short, but not tall, with badly cut brown hair, and brown skin?”

The boy’s eyes were large. Percy realized he was probably scaring him. Good, he thought. He let go of him. “Well?” 

The boy choked out, “I don’t know, Sir.”

Percy’s lips curled into a satisfied smile. “Sir? Ahem, I tend to prefer Captain.”

“Yes, Sir, I mean, Captain, Sir.”

“Captain Sir isn’t too bad.”

A single finger tapped on Percy’s shoulder. He took his sweet time turning around, saying, “Yes?” in a bored tone. 

“Oh, it’s only your very best friend.”

He quickly faced her all the way. “Piper!”

“Missed me, huh? I’ve only been gone for a few moments. Had to take the chance to steal.”

“Of course you did.”

Piper said, “So, ‘badly cut brown hair’?”

“You would have said the same thing.”

“Probably. Doesn’t mean you get to say it.”

“But it is,” Percy teased. 

“Shut up, Dork.”

“I’ve been told that an awful lot today.”

“That’s because you talk a lot.”

Percy winced dramatically. “Ouch, that hurts.”

“That’s good.”

“And that hurts even worse.”

“Which is also good. No better thing than to hurt another.”

Percy agreed, “True. Guess that’s why I’m doing this then.” He kicked the bottom of her leg hard, before running away, leaving her cursing in his absence. 

“Percy!” 

“Piper!” he said mockingly.

“I’m going to get you!”

“As if you could.” 

Piper chased Percy, quickly catching up to him, swiftly punching him in the stomach. 

He wheezed, “Hey! I didn’t hurt you that bad.”

“Yeah, cause you’re weak.”

“Hey!” he said again.

“I speak the truth and nothing but the truth.”

“I’m not weak. Look at my muscles.” Percy flexed, showing off some decently big muscles. 

“Dude, have you been working out?”

Percy grinned. “Yes. Well, that and I have been doing a bunch of hard ship work. Gotta prepare for one day when I’m a captain and you’re my first mate.”

“Maybe I should be the captain and you should be the first mate.”

Percy frowned. “This is my lifelong dream. No way I’m settling for first mate.”

Piper smiled. “Chill. I was just joking. Obviously you’d be captain, so long as you don’t try to boss me around.”

“But being the captain means being the boss,” he protested.

“To the others, not to me.”

“That is so not fair.”

Piper put her hand to her forehead in fake distress. “I guess you’ll have to settle for a different first mate then.”

“No. I want you to be my first mate,” Percy insisted. 

Piper sighed. Sometimes that boy was dense. “Okay. I’ll do it. You can give me orders, but not boss me around.”

“But that’s the sa–” Piper interrupted him saying, “Shush. We gotta do something evil. All this sitting around is boring.”

Percy grinned. “Now you’re talking.”

Piper tossed him her bag, one she must have stolen, as it was way too nice to be something from the Isle. 

He opened it, finding some circles objects he quickly identified as stink bombs, upon getting a whiff of it. “Are these the good ones?”

She smirked. “They’re the ones impossible to get a hold of. Stole them from another VK during the chaos.”

“Who?”

“Hazel.”

“Ooh, how’d you get away with that? Surely her brother would’ve been right at her side.”

Her smirk got wider. “I’ll never reveal my secrets. Can’t have you getting as good as me. Now, plan J, section 1, okay? Can you handle that?”

Percy crossed his arms. “Duh. Plan J has four parts to it, though. Don’t you want me to do another?”

“No. Just focus on section one and I’ll handle the rest.”

“How?”

She didn’t answer his question, instead simply saying, “I’ll meet you up at the tip of the border when I’m done. Drink this for the smell to not affect you.”

Piper handed him a small vial filled with black liquid. 

Percy gagged when he took it. “This might honestly be worse than the smell.”

“Not from these ones. Only time I remember these being thrown, a bunch of kids passed out from the smell.”

“Oh.”

“‘Oh’ is right. Don’t get caught. She grabbed two stink bombs from the bag, leaving the rest with him, as she walked away.

Percy snuck some sunglasses from someone as he started part one. He took a stink bomb and threw it at a girl wearing a bright pink dress, looking ever so much like the stereotypical Auradon girl.

He ducked away before he could get noticed, but heard a distinct shriek. People crowded in that direction, soon followed by a series of shrieks just like the first. So far his part was working. 

He threw three more in rapid succession at a group of kids with perfect hairstyles and ridiculously neat outfits. 

Someone locked eyes with him, but he ran before they could realize it had been him. 

He probably should not have shot three stink bombs at the same place, because the kids shot were already passed out, and everyone around them didn’t look so good.

He heard another shriek, so he assumed that Piper had gotten someone with one of hers. 

One more shot, and he could finish his part with a grand finale. Who should he get?

He looked around and found a girl that appeared to be about his age, with perfect blonde curls, perfect tan skin, a perfect crisp outfit, and a not so perfect scowl across her face. Bingo. 

He threw it at her, but she turned when he shot it, and she saw him. Uh-oh. Now he could very definitely be caught. 

She didn’t pass out like the others, but still did not look to be feeling so good. Percy caught himself feeling bad. Nope. No time for ridiculous sympathy. 

He grabbed the last five stink bombs in his bag one by one, each looking even more vile than the last. He squirmed through the mass of people and slid them to the ground underneath their feet.

He watched as one was stepped on, closely followed by another, and so forth until everybody was screaming and running like the world was about to end. Only the ones from the Isle didn’t panic. Well, some did, as they knew just how bad it was. After all, the smell would only continue to get worse.

Percy grinned at his work. He could barely imagine how bad it would be once section two through four were complete. Nope, he could imagine. He could imagine it very well.

Like clockwork, screams somehow got louder as a layer of water covered the ground. Percy wondered how Piper had done that. He was the one that could control the water, not her.

From his study on smoke bombs, he knew that the water would only serve to spread the smell for these specific kinds. Those who had some specifically on them would have a hard time getting the smell off. 

Now for part three. The smell was only half of it. What kind of brilliant plan would it be without some other… Fun things? 

A sound so loud, Percy felt like he would never hear again, sounded. Following it came several more rings. He should have gotten protection from it like he did the smell.

Percy knew about the sound coming, but wondered how Piper was pulling it off. How was she pulling any of it off? Piper could do things that she should not be able to do. Sometimes she terrified him, although he would never admit it even if his life was depending on it.

One part left, and total chaos would be reached. 

On either side of him, someone grabbed him. Two security officers. Yikes. He was definitely going to be in a lot of trouble. Standing behind the officers was Fairy Godmother, and she looked very, very displeased. 

He was brought to an office where Piper already was. He grinned, mouthing, Good job. She rolled her eyes. 

Fairy Godmother was obviously trying hard to keep her cool. Her voice came out strained from how close she was to yelling. “The barrier was just let down. You were given freedom and this is how you spend it?” 

She seemed to be losing her battle of staying calm as her voice rose. “So much will have to change for you all! So many years I gave everything I had into Auradon, making sure the next generation would be better than the last.”

Percy didn’t even bother to take the anger out of his words. “Well, clearly you didn’t try hard enough. You made half of our generation trapped with only villains as our influence. Because of that, more villains came out of there.”

“That wasn’t my decision! I’m not the one that chose that! But it was for the better! It also wasn’t my decision to let you here! If I had the choice, you would never have had the chance to spread your evil! First day here and you have already ruined so much!”

Piper cut in, “It wasn’t just him. He so does not deserve all the credit. I did most of it.”

Percy yelled, “Not helping,” as Fairy Godmother’s angry glare turned to Piper. Perhaps she was trying to protect him, although that was uncommon where they were from.

Fairy Godmother’s tone turned deadly calm. “You won’t go to one of the royal family's other castles like the rest of you kids while things get sorted. You two will be starting at Auradon Prep tomorrow.”

Chapter Text

Annabeth felt beyond nauseated from the smell. Stupid Isle boy! She had know that it was a bad idea. All it resulted in was evilness. 

How in Auradon was she supposed to get rid of the smell? It was worse than anything she had ever smelled before. 

A voice came from somewhere. She couldn’t see, but she heard it come upwards from where she was sitting on the ground. “You have been requested to come with us, where you will then get treatment.”

She breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you. Where are we going?” The voice didn’t answer her. It sounded like a man’s voice. She was pretty sure it was Lumière by the voice, but didn’t have any way of knowing. She hoped it wasn’t another villain, but really, what could she do?

A group of other people were with them. Cogsworth, probably. She guessed everybody else hit with what she thought was a stink bomb was also there. Her vision was coming back slowly, and she saw that a few others were unconscious. That was honestly terrifying. 

She had been right–it was Lumière and Cogsworth that were helping them into a carriage. Annabeth appeared to be doing better than the others that were targeted, even with her temporary loss of sight, nausea, and dizziness. 

They were brought back to Auradon Prep because all of them were students, and Fairy Godmother was there, so she could help fix them with her magic somehow. 

Annabeth’s sight was all the way back, although she still felt dizzy. There was a common pattern between the kids, she noticed. All of them, herself included, looked like the perfect Auradon type. 

She knew all five of the other kids well. They all went to Auradon Prep and were the role models, basically. Whoever that boy was definitely had a type he had targeted. They were all princesses or princes too. 

The few kids who had been unconscious were awake and appeared fine now. It didn’t seem to have a lasting effect. Other than the smell. The smell was the most horrid thing Annabeth had ever smelled.

Fairy Godmother hurried out from her office, two kids close behind her. Annabeth recognized one kid. He had been the one to throw the stink bomb at her.

She glared at him, only causing a stupid grin to creep on his face. 

Fairy Godmother reluctantly pulled out her wand. Annabeth wondered when she had had time to get it from the museum. Maybe she had a way to make it appear out of thin air. She tapped each kid one by one, making most, but not all, of the smell go away. 

Annabeth didn’t think the memory of the putrid smell would go away. It would always be ingrained in her mind. 

The other kids drifted off, as did Fairy Godmother soon after, leaving Annabeth with only the boy and the girl, plus their guards. 

The boy walked closer to her and winked. “It smells like the future is calling, huh? I wouldn’t be too surprised if I was in yours, cause I’m going to your school now, Darling.”

Annabeth felt a white hot anger build inside her. Stupid smell, stupid boy, stupid puns. Stupid everything! 

She choked out a whisper-hiss. “I would rather die than live in a future with you.” Once she made sure no one else was paying attention, she added, “Or better yet, you could be the one to die.”

She immediately regretted her words. Violence was what she was opposing. The look on the boy’s face was heartbreaking. He looked like he was spaced out, thinking of a time in the past, but the pain was still etched in his face. 

The Isle was filled with villains, Annabeth knew. Did someone ever threaten to kill him? Or say they wished him dead?

She thought about apologizing, but what had he done to deserve it? He should be the one apologizing, considering he started it all. 

Annabeth took a second to really look at the boy. She didn’t care if her staring made him uncomfortable. His skin was light brown, his face dotted with freckles. His messy hair was black at the roots, but were dyed different shades of blue. He wore a blue leather jacket over a plain white t-shirt decorated by gold(fake or stolen, most likely) chains. His black jeans were ripped with little white skulls drawn on them. He looked distinctly familiar, but she didn’t know why.

She finally finished by meeting his eyes. Somehow his eyes had the purest, most outstanding shade of green as their color. His eyes sparkled, looking like they held a million smiles somehow.

He noticed her staring, and rubbed his neck. A small smile crept onto Annabeth’s face. She did make him uncomfortable. He quickly shifted his features into an easy grin. “Found something you like?” 

Annabeth’s cheeks felt hot, from which she was sure was anger. Probably. Not embarrassment. “Assessing my first enemy.”

He raised his eyebrows. “First? Surely someone as pretty as you has made plenty of ladies jealous? And perhaps a few suitors upset over not receiving your affections?”

“Being upset or jealous is different than being someone’s enemy. An enemy is one you hate with such passion that you could never let it go and want nothing else but to bring them down.”

He put a hand to his chest. “I am delighted that you think so much of me. In the Isle, to be one’s enemy is of the highest honor.” 

Annabeth gritted her teeth. “Well you’re not in the Isle anymore.”

He grinned. “Is that a reference from Dorothy’s story? It’s funny, I actually have a friend who is the daughter of Elphaba.” His grin dropped on the word friend in a way that Annabeth thought meant the girl was not his friend. 

Annabeth started to ask, “Who’s Elphaba—oh, the Wicked Witch of the West. In our history books, we call them by a more formal name.”

He visibly bristled. Weird how fast he went from bright, cheery grin to scowl. “That’s only because you hear the ‘heroes’ sides of the stories. Several villains were not as bad as people say. Winners get to tell the stories.”

Annabeth was about to respond, but the girl that had been with him grabbed his arm roughly. “Time to go, Dork. You can talk to Miss Pretty Pants here later, okay? We need to find our way to whatever dorm Fairy Godmother was wanting us at.”

The boy started to turn away, but first whispered, “Name’s Percy. Now you can have a name to go with the delightful face you so deeply studied.”

“Percy,” she repeated. He had already started on his way, but stopped and looked over his shoulder when he heard his name. Annabeth shouldn’t have said it, but it was too late now. An excuse, she needed an excuse. “I’ll show you guys where to go.”

Both Percy and the girl looked surprised. They looked at each other first, seeming to have a silent conversation. The girl elbowed Percy. He said, “Sure, whatever.”

Annabeth didn’t know what had caused her to give that offer. Of all the excuses she could have made. She could have just said that she was simply trying out his name. It wasn’t a big deal. But she had made the offer, and she would stick with it. What better way would there be to show them that Auradon kids are better?

As she led them to the right part of campus, she informed them, “Ben and Mal—” Percy looked oddly afraid, “—have been working on getting the school expanded for when the rest of the Isle kids come, but this came a little early, so you’ll go to one of the spare rooms. Percy will have to share with someone because a lot of rooms have been closed off for remodeling, but you,” she pointed to the girl, “should be able to get your own room.”

The girl grinned(that seemed to be a common trait in Isle kids). “Sweet. Name’s Piper, by the way. My mommy darling is Mother Gothel, as you might know her.”

“Mother Gothel, huh? You don’t look creepy and old, so you must not be too much like your mother.”

Piper looked offended by her words. “I am nothing like my mother. She is disgusting and cruel. I was raised by my dad.”

Annabeth nodded formally in acknowledgment of the statement. 

Percy asked, “So what’s your name, Princess?”

“Annabeth.” 

Percy flashed his Isle grin, as Annabeth had mentally dubbed it. “Pretty name for a pretty girl. Are you actually a princess?”

She could not wait until the short walk was over. She should not need to talk to Isle trash. “I guess you could say that. Although several here are, so it is not considered much.”

Annabeth hoped Fairy Godmother would be satisfied with where she put them. They reached the dorm room Annabeth was looking for. She gestured to Percy. “Here you are.” 

She knocked on the door, making sure all was good. At the very least, it was polite. Percy had no such cares, though, and immediately went to open the door. Lucky for Frank, it was locked. 

Annabeth heard the sound of a lock clicking, before revealing Lonnie’s younger brother, Frank. She pointed to Percy. “Frank, this is Percy. For now he will be staying with you as you currently have no roommate. Percy, this is Frank. That is all, so goodbye.”

She left a bewildered Frank with Percy. She briefly worried about Percy hurting Frank, but figured Frank could handle himself.

Piper and Annabeth were different in almost every way. They were about the same height and were both girls, but that’s pretty much where their similarities ended. Piper had skin a little lighter than Percy’s, messy, straight brown hair with purple highlights, and an outfit similar style to Percy’s. Annabeth had light blonde hair in neat ringlets paired with a short, red dress. 

When they reached the spare dorm room for Piper, Annabeth took a little more time to show her the basic functions. “The bathroom is already stocked with everything you should need on that aspect including showering. You can pick either bed. You probably don’t have much clothes, do you?”

Piper shook her head. “Nope. I left the Isle with only my dignity.”

“Then how’d you get the stink bombs?”

An evil Isle grin appeared on Piper’s face. “Stole them.”

Annabeth closed her eyes briefly. “Well, you can’t do that here. You’ll get into a whole lot more trouble than you would have on the Isle. And the punishments are all stuff that are grossly good to you, I imagine. I can lend you a few dresses, and some other girls probably would too.”

Piper made a face. “I hate dresses. To wear a dress would be considered disgusting in the Isle. Everything here’s disgusting, really. Look at the pink on the walls? Ugh.”

Annabeth was starting to feel more relaxed. “I will admit, Auradon Prep is way too pink in a billion different ways. Dresses are not all bad, though.”

Piper shrugged. “To each their own. Before you leave, are there any cute boys at this school?”

“Uh, I guess. Depends on what your idea of cute is.”

“Don’t really care. Preferably taller than me. I kinda hate to say this, but it’d be nice to have a guy a little more put together, for lack of better words. Charming. That’s really it.”

Maybe not all Isle kids were that bad. But then Annabeth remembered Piper gave a helping hand in the stink bombs. Nope, they were all that bad as far as she was concerned.

She muttered, “Cool.” before leaving without so much as a second glance. A few dorms over was her room. A bed had never felt so peaceful as it did in the moment that she flopped down on it. Making it even better, her roommate, Rachel, daughter of Merida, was out doing something else. All that she had left for the day was glorious peace and quiet.

Chapter Text

Percy woke up to a loud alarm. Stupid alarm. He smacked it hard and threw it to the ground, but somehow it stayed persistently ringing. 

Someone touched his shoulder, making him ready to bring out the fists. “What?” he growled. 

It was Frank. He timidly said, “Fairy Godmother wants you at her office.”

Percy groaned. “Why?”

“They have to get your schedule sorted so you can start your classes as soon as possible.”

“Or I could just never go to school again,” Percy suggested. 

Frank looked distinctly uncomfortable. “Uh, I don’t know. I was just told to carry on the message.”

Percy forced himself up from his bed(which was way better than any bed in the Isle). “Yeah, yeah, whatever. I’m coming.” He was wearing the same clothes he had yesterday, but he didn’t have anything else to wear, and frankly didn’t care. 

He tried to remember where exactly to go. He assumed it was where Fairy Godmother(nope, that took too long to say. Old FG) had them yesterday. Only problem: where exactly was that?

He remembered what it looked like, and what the surrounding looked like, but how did he get to that point?

His surroundings were looking less and less like the place he remembered. Maybe he should just ditch this. He probably should have done that in the first place, come to think of it.

But how did he get back? Stupid new, huge school. Was there such a thing as anti-claustrophobia? If so, he was definitely feeling it with how large and at the moment pretty much empty school building. Why was it so empty? He glanced at his watch that he had just stolen from Frank. Six in the morning! They woke him up so early just for some school meeting thing?! Did he really need to go to school that specific day?

He was so distracted by his thoughts that he bumped into someone. Who else would be up this early out of their own free will? Maybe it was Piper going to the meeting too. 

“Excuse me?” came the snotty words. Nope, not Piper. Annabeth. Delightful (not).

Percy groaned. It was too early to deal with an Auradon brat. “Chill, it was just an accident.”

She looked seriously annoyed. “Oh, like the stink bombs?”

Percy crossed his arms defensively. “I never claimed that it was an accident.” He thought it was easy to pick on Annabeth, because she got angry so easily. And later, he would. But he was not a morning person. Especially when the morning was so early !

“Just leave me alone! I’m trying to go meet with my professor about getting extra credit before school starts.” Interesting , Percy thought. She was more than just a pretty face it seemed. 

Percy sighed. “Can I just ask you a question real quick?”

She squinted her eyes, looking weary. “About?”

“I don’t know how to get to FG’s office.”

“That’s not a question. And FG? Really?”

“Yes, really. I’m not like you who calls everybody by their formal titles. And I am serious about those directions!”

“Just go down the hall, to the right, down a flight of stairs, take two lefts in a row, and a final right leading to the stairs to her office. Got that?”

Oy, he was screwed. “Yeah, no, I will not remember all that.”

She groaned. “Fine, just follow me.”

“Really?” Maybe she wasn’t so bad. She did show him to his room yesterday too.

“Yeah, don’t know how I keep on getting stuck doing this, though. Hurry up, cause I still have to talk to my professor.”

She walked super fast(of course above breaking the rules and running), making it hard to keep up. 

Barely managing to push out the words with his heavy breathing, Percy said, “So, how’s life?”

She gave him an incredulous look. “How’s life? What kind of question is that?”

“I believe it’s called small talk .”

“Oh my gosh, you are such an Isle kid. Asking about life is not small talk!”

“Fiiiiine. What’s your favorite color then?”

He could have sworn she glanced at his eyes. “Green.”

He laughed. “Thinking of me?”

Annoyance creased her face, her nose scrunched up all disgusted. “No.” Percy almost felt offended by how horrified she sounded. 

“Well, my favorite color is blue.”

“Figures.”

“Why does it figure?” Percy asked.

“Cause you dyed your hair blue.”

“Oh, yeah. I did it to annoy my sister. She dyed her hair the same color.”

Annabeth seemed to be debating between being impressed or annoyed. “You must be an awful brother.”

Percy pretended to wipe away tears. “Thank you, thank you. That means a lot to me.”

Annabeth stopped abruptly, causing Percy to almost run into her. He finally recognized his surroundings. Annabeth didn’t so much as wave goodbye before turning in the other direction.

He was stuck standing in front of the intimidating office all by himself. Nope, he told himself. He was not afraid. He was a fierce pirate not afraid of a single soul. Not one. 

He rapped on the door once, twice, and finally a third time. The door swung open to reveal Fairy Godmother sitting in her seat just as she had yesterday, already talking to Piper. 

She gestured to another chair for him to sit. He didn’t even try to listen to whatever school plan she had. His head started to droop, but he was startled awake. That continued until eventually he stayed asleep. 

He woke up to Piper elbowing him. He looked around from side to side, desperately trying to figure out where he was. Piper whispered, “I can’t believe she hasn’t noticed you sleeping yet, with your snoring and all that. She must love talking.”

Percy still was dazed. “Huh? Oh, yeah. Office. FG. Yeah.”

Piper let out a small laugh. “Yeah. Wanna sneak out and do a prank?”

He rubbed his eyes. “Sure, I guess. I’m tired, though.”

Fairy Godmother had stopped talking and looked like she was waiting for an answer. “What?” Percy asked.

“Did you get all that so far? That only covers the first schedule.”

Percy’s left eye twitched. “Yup.”

Piper whispered again when Fairy Godmother went back to speaking. “I’m thinking I’ma do something to make you owe me big time.”

“What?”

“I’ll distract FG as you call her, you say you need to go to the bathroom, and then prank someone. I’ll escape as soon as I can without it being obvious, but until then do your worst, okay?”

Percy grinned. “Aw, you’re such a bad friend.”

“Best compliment you've ever given me. Anyway, scram!”

Percy said louder, “I need to go to the restroom.” Without waiting for an answer, or for a guard to stop him, he hurried out of the stuffy room. 

One final chance. He’d for sure be on major lockdown after this. Maybe he’d even have to go somewhere like the Isle again. But he wasn’t going to chicken out of this. He was brave and fierce like Uma. No, scratch that. Better than Uma. He was the bravest of them all.

He felt a little more comfortable with his surroundings, able to remember the path back to where he was. He still didn’t know exactly where to go, but he did know how to pick a target. 

There were a lot more kids out. Oh well for Percy and Piper getting sorted out before class started.

There was a girl with short brown hair. Nope. A boy with long hair tied into a bun, wearing glasses. Nope. A small girl with freckles and dark hair. Nope. Who should he pick? One chance to prank, and that would be it for a long time. 

He saw a familiar face. Annabeth. Now, of course he could target her , but where was the fun in that. There was a boy beside her, probably her boyfriend. He was probably a little taller than Percy, and maybe a year or two younger. Blond hair similar to Annabeth’s, but not in curls. He had a small scar on his lip. How did an Auradon kid get a scar? Not like they had a hard life.

He ducked his head, so that he would be less recognizable. A little closer. There, now he could hear their conversation. “—is so annoying, Jason. I swear, he is the worst.”

Percy’s mouth dropped open slightly. Were they talking about him ? At least he made some sort of impact… Being annoying was a great thing. Probably. 

But that wasn’t what mattered. He had gotten a name. Jason. He walked away to the other side of the lockers, so he could be seen, but not heard. Now, where was a speaker? He saw one a little farther down the hall. That would make it a little bit harder, but it was workable. 

He put his hand over his mouth and did a trick he had learned years ago. Voice manipulation. Percy muttered quietly, “Testing.” A little too deep for old FG. He tried again; one tone higher. “Testing.” The accent was a little off. “One.” More clipped. “Two.” Too clipped. “Three.” Perfect. Third time's the charm. Well, fifth time. But the number was three.

He raised his voice loudly, and made it sound like it was coming from the speaker right above him. “Jason, you must report to the office. You are in a lot of trouble.” Hopefully he was the only Jason around. 

Percy walked away, making sure to steady his steps, as to make him inconspicuous. He walked right past Annabeth and Jason. Jason’s face was ghostly white as he whispered a question to Annabeth. Ha, he had gotten away with it so far! 

Or so he thought. A hand slammed against his chest, stopping further movement. Annabeth looked furious. “You never learn your lesson, do you Isle boy?”

“I’ve learnt it, just choose to ignore what I’ve learned. ‘Course I know it’s evil. But being evil is delightful.”

Jason cut in, “Leave Annabeth alone.”

Percy turned to him. “Aw, pretty boy feeling protective of his girlfriend? How adorable.” He shifted his focus to Annabeth. “You should be dating a cool dude rather than fancy pants over here. For your information,” Percy flashed his usual smirk, “I’m a cool dude.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes. “I think I’m good without dating either my cousin or Isle trash.”

Oh. Percy was surprised they were cousins. They looked enough alike that it was believable. Upon further look, they did have similar jaw lines, and their hair was identical in color. And of course, they both had their air of betterness to them. 

He took a moment too long to respond. Oops. He quickly said, “Not even the cute trash?”

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. “Who said you were cute?”

“Every girl ever.”

“I’m a girl and I didn’t say that, so clearly not every girl.”

Piper’s voice came from behind him. “I never said that either.”

Percy was too distracted to react to the insult. “How’d you get out?”

She smiled sheepishly. “I didn’t. They saw that you were gone and the security guys came to get you. The moment they left I ran for it, so they should be here any minute.” 

In tune to her words, the security guards from yesterday marched up and grabbed their wrists. 

Percy groaned. “You couldn’t have warned me about that.”

The security guard that was taller and bulkier yelled, “Shut your mouth! We will tolerate no talking!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” The look he got from the guard shut him up. 

They took the treacherous walk back to Fairy Godmother’s office. Wow, Percy’s third time in twenty-four hours. That was probably a record compared to all the goody two shoes in Auradon. Too bad he had to share it with Piper.

He had a sense of deja vu when he saw Fairy Godmother giving him a look just like he had gotten yesterday. 

Her face was red, a stark contrast to her black hair. She choked out in a barely controlled manner, “Extra detention for both of you. You had the rest of this year, but now it’ll be for year twelve too! And you will sit here and get your schedules sorted whether you like it or not!”

Chapter Text

When Annabeth woke up the next morning, her first thought was to wonder what would Percy do today.

Ugh. He was infiltrating her thoughts. Stupid boy. Did he not know how to keep his space? And he was butting into her personal life. Why did he ask about her boyfriend? 

Whatever. She had things to do, and continuously obsessing over the mind of a ridiculous boy was not one of them. Not even close. 

She took a quick shower, brushing her tangled curls when she was done. She always hated how long it took to brush her hair and how easily it got tangled. She sometimes wished she could be the perfect princess more effortlessly. Why couldn’t it be like the movies where all they had to do was exist and be pretty? To be fair, she would be beyond bored if that was reality.

Rachel was still in bed. Annabeth was no early bird, but she could wake up early when she wanted to. She whisper-shouted, “Rise and shine, sleepy head!”

Rachel bolted awake, rubbing her eyes, and not looking pleased. “What time is it?”

“Six thirty.”

“Ugh. In the morning?”

“No, in the evening,” Annabeth said dryly.

“Huh? Oh, you’re joking. Why do I have to get up thirty minutes before class?”

“Because you have to get ready.”

“Yeah, well, unlike you, I don’t care what anybody else thinks about me.”

“What does that have to do with getting ready?” Annabeth demanded.

“I don’t need to take a long time to get ready, because I just wear simple clothes and such. Wake me up again in twenty minutes.”

“I’m not still going to be in here ten minutes before class starts. We have to be there in thirty minutes, not leave here in thirty minutes.”

Rachel didn’t respond. She was asleep. Annabeth muttered, “Whatever. Not my fault when she’s late.” 

She packed her backpack, making sure she had everything. It was twenty minutes for class when she left. That way she could get there in plenty of time, and manage to get a decent seat. 

She arrived thirteen minutes early exactly. Two other kids were there, as was the professor. 

She pulled her book from her backpack and read while she waited. The book was on the formatting of ancient structures, not the thing most sixteen year old girls read about. What could she say, but that she loved structures? Besides, normal was a stereotype, and where was the fun in that? 

Kids started streaming in, most in clumps of friends. Two minutes after class started, a boy walked in late. Huh, most kids knew being late in this class meant instant detention. When the boy turned in her direction, she knew why he 1) didn’t know about it, and 2) didn’t care. Who else could it be then Percy? For some weird reason, she was constantly seeing him. 

He locked eye contact with her, a silent battle of who would blink first. Spoiler alert: Annabeth won because she was just awesome like that.

Percy sauntered by her, where she was sitting at the front, and plopped into an empty desk right behind her. 

The lesson went on, although Annabeth couldn’t focus. Instead, she was stuck wondering how Percy had gone to this class specifically. 

Someone flicked her on the back of the head. Percy, of course. She turned around, giving everything she had into her fiery glare. 

She faced back towards the professor, trying to focus on the lecture once again. He whispered behind her, “Miss me yet?”

She hissed back, “Never. Why do you keep going everywhere I go?”

“Whatever do you mean?” His face was purely fake innocence. 

“You know what I mean.”

“Eh, I don’t know. Coincidence, perhaps. Maybe I’m being punished for my bad behavior by your presence.” 

“Why, you little–” Annabeth started, before being interrupted.

“You two, up here. I will not tolerate you talking in my class. We need to see if you have been listening.”

A boiling rage piled in Annabeth’s stomach, becoming hotter with every second. She had never gotten in trouble with a professor before. Then Percy walked in and ruined it. Typical Isle boy. 

She clenched her jaw, biting her tongue to keep from yelling, as she walked up to the board with Percy close behind.  

The professor said, “There are two problems on the board, as you can see. Solve them and we will see if you got it right. If you do, you will make it out of being in trouble.”

The problem was a complicated one, but she wasn’t worried. Algebra had never been hard for her. If anything, it was her best subject. 

She solved it as quickly as she could, determined to prove that she was not a rule-breaker. When she finished calculating her answer on the board, she turned to see how Percy was doing. 

Her jaw clenched again, even tighter this time. He was already finished, probably having finished at the same time as her, or even before her. 

The professor was checking their answers, making sure they got them right. 

Out of the blue, Percy reached out and tucked a strand of Annabeth’s hair behind her ear. “You’ve got beautiful hair, you know that? Matches your face quite well.”

Annabeth’s jaw dropped slightly, her eyes widening at his bold statement. Everybody in the class was watching them, waiting for her answer.  

Why did Percy have to be such a player? Ugh. She muttered, “Thanks.” She turned her back to the rest of the room, seemingly studying the professor checking their work.

When he finished, after taking a ridiculously long time, the professor announced swiftly, “Both of you have demonstrated your abilities quite well. You have answered your questions correctly, and in an astoundingly short amount of time as well. You may go back to your seats now.”

Annabeth hurried back to her seat, glaring at her desk when she sat. Why did he have to be such a flirt? Now everybody thought they liked each other. At the very least, she would forever be associated with the Isle boy.

Rachel, who had somehow made it to class on time, albeit a little disheveled, was sitting at the desk beside her. She wrote something on a piece of paper before showing it to Annabeth. Written in colorful, fancy letters were the words, He’s hot . 

Annabeth grabbed the piece of paper and wrote, Ew. If you start dating him, don’t expect me to be nice to him.

Rachel wrote, Do you think he’d actually like me?

Probably. Don’t know why you'd like him, though. I need to stop now before I get in trouble again .

When the class was finally over, she grabbed Percy by the collar of his leather jacket. She pulled him to a more secluded place, right by the stairs. 

He grinned at her. “Crushing on me?”

Her eyes narrowed. “No. Whatever this is that you’re doing, you need to stop it! I have done nothing to you.”

“Oh, but that’d be no fun. I think the way your nose scrunches all cute when you’re angry is s plenty enough.”

Annabeth clenched her fist. “Stop trying to flirt with me. Not how things work here.”

“Oh, but I think I’m falling for you now.” Right in time to his words, he buckled down to his knees in an oddly good example of falling.

“ Stop it ! I am serious. It is drawing too much unwanted attention.”

“Attention is such a rare and glorious thing, though. Especially the one that involves a pretty girl. But, alas, I will turn my charms in other ways if it bothers the lovely princess to such a degree.”

“What other ways?” Annabeth said, exasperated.

“Now, now. That’s something for another day. I assume it’s time for you to go to class, huh?”

It was time. She sighed. “Yeah, okay. Whatever. Leave me alone, and we can never see each other again.”

“Not what I said, Darling. Changing my method doesn’t mean stopping.”

She rolled her eyes, heading to her next class. He was so annoying. Why exactly had it been decided that villains being free was a good idea?

When classes were over for the day, Annabeth went to her dorm, and changed into a plain t-shirt and shorts, before going to the empty field. On days when there was no practice, she liked to run. 

She stretched quickly first, before taking off. One foot in front of another, a continuous pattern. She breathed in, breathed out. It always stayed the same, something she appreciated. 

Running helped her mind focus, thinking through her problems. Usually she used the time to help study, but instead she narrowed in on a specific problem she had just met. 

Percy was not the worst person ever, she could admit that. He wasn’t toxic, per se, like others she knew. He was mostly just annoying. And he pulled pranks. And made everyone think she was associating with him. Okay, maybe he wasn’t the best person ever either. 

Well, yeah, he definitely wasn’t the best person. That was a given. He was from the Isle. They were literally trained to be evil. All of them in Auradon was a disaster waiting to happen. 

But there was some part of her that thought him like a puzzle. How did his mind work? Why did his mind work that way? Who had influenced him? And how did he respond? What had his life been like before? Perhaps she didn’t like him, because he was a brat, but he had a knack for making things more interesting. 

Her lungs were burning, so she slowed down, before stopping completely to take a sip of water. She walked around slowly so that her pulse would steady. 

She sat on the bleachers, continuing her book from earlier. She was so distracted that she didn’t notice when a boy from her school came and sat by her.

Not Percy this time. Leo, resident class clown. They never really talked to each other, as Annabeth was pretty much the perfect student, athletic, got straight A's, and popular, while Leo was goofy and consistently getting in trouble. What did he want?

He cleared his throat. “Uh, the new kid, Percy, he wanted me to tell you something.”

She raised her eyebrows. “And what is that?”

“Well, he said to tell you game on and that he was ready for a battle. I don’t know what he meant, though. Probably–”

“That’s enough. Thank you. Now, I would appreciate it if you allowed me to go back to my book.” Why exactly did he say game on? What had she done? Ugh, he was probably doing it to get her in trouble. Why was he so insistent on ruining her life?

Leo nodded, and tried to pull off a wink before he left. Poor kid. He tried so hard, but he couldn’t pull off the wink like Percy. Not that Percy could pull it off. He had his humor going for him, though. That was something, surely. 

Leo was awkward, but cute in his own way. The kind where she would never date him(he was way too immature), but totally pair him up with a friend. Maybe Rachel would like him. Or Piper. Piper wasn’t a friend, but she had wanted to know if there were any cute boys.

She grimaced slightly when she realized how ridiculous her train of thought was. She was thinking about how cute a boy was, and which girl she should end up with. Ugh, what was wrong with her now? 

She continued reading her back, but couldn’t bring herself to focus on it. She kept on replaying the words, Game on , in her head. She could hear Percy saying it, his mouth curling into his usual grin as he said it. 

No more thoughts on Percy, she told herself. Why did she have to be so obsessed with mysteries, and why did there have to be so much about him that she didn’t know? Not knowing something was the worst feeling ever.

Chapter Text

Percy was sitting on the roof of Auradon Prep. Why he was sitting on the roof, might be a thing to wonder. Percy was sitting on the roof of Auradon Prep because it was against the rules, and it was an easy thing to break. 

He had a blue notebook he had snatched from some other student. It was mostly empty, but the first few pages were filled with doodles and words about how much they hated school. In the notebook, he made a list of potential prank ideas. 

At least, he made a title for his list. Prank ideas . Yeah, that was all he had. He stood up, and stared at the ground below him. Geez, he was high up. He wasn’t scared of heights, or of falling, he just didn’t like how it felt. Maybe it was because his mom was a sea monster. Or that his grandpa was a sea god. Whatever the case, he was not fond of being high up. 

But it was a good hiding spot. FG wouldn’t think to find him up here, so they wouldn’t make him sit in detention. Sitting was the worst punishment, in Percy’s opinion. He liked to be moving, doing something, distracting himself, working, whatever. Just not sitting still doing nothing. 

He was going to pay for this later. But the freedom was worth it. He would hide here again and again until they discovered him. Then he would find a new place. Settling just wouldn’t do. 

What fun is playing a game when you’re a pawn not a player?

Percy sat back down, and opened the notebook again. He decided to follow the owner’s example, and started drawing a picture, hoping to find some inspiration. 

Eyes are fun to draw, and easy too, so he started to draw one. He sketched out the right shape and drew in the details. Years of practice since he was a little boy(although, mostly from makeup) had resulted in him having a pretty decent drawing, he thought. 

But what was he missing? He thought for a second. It was some color. If he added color, his drawing would look complete. But how was he supposed to obtain some colored pencils or paint?

Maybe he could sneak down and go to the art room. Did they have an art room? Eh, it was a fancy school with a bunch of princesses and princes. They must have an art room, he thought.

Percy climbed over the front and slid down to a balcony. He muttered a soft, “Oof,” upon his rough landing. He thought to himself that it was just like climbing down the mast of a ship. With that train of thought, he somehow managed to make his way down. 

His left foot slipped once, and for a painstaking moment he thought he was going to fall. If he fell at that point, he would become a Percy pancake. 

Once he was down, he tried to stay out of sight. His bright blue hair was not helping to keep him from being noticeable. He saw a bright pink(ew) hoodie hanging from a boy's bag. 

He called out, “What is that?” The boy was distracted(and from such a noob trick too), so he gently tugged it from the bag and walked away. Auradon Kids were such easy targets from their lack of experience and of course naiveness. 

Percy snuck behind a door and pulled the hoodie on, shoving the bright colored hood over his unruly hair. 

He thanked evilness that he had borrowed the darkest pair of pants Frank owned. Borrowed being a loosely used term. Although, the sweatpants were several sizes too big, hanging at his feet, and pulled tight with the drawstrings.

Now, where to find the art room. He hadn’t had time yet to explore, although he definitely would once he managed to get out of detention easily some night. Maybe when everybody else was sleeping. 

He quickly passed the dorms, going from classroom to classroom. The familiar thrill of danger was dancing through his blood, but the danger wasn’t so ‘dangerous’. 

Finally, after what felt like forever, he managed to find a room that was filled with art supplies, that he was pretty sure would classify as an art room, especially with the freshly painted canvases. 

A girl with fiery red hair in tight curls was already in there, but otherwise it was empty. 

He took off the hoodie and set it on some benches right outside the door.

He was surprised he had managed to get this far. Wait, no, scratch that. He was not surprised. This was not the Isle with professional thieves. 

The girl was painting. He asked her, “Is this the art room?”

The girl jumped more than should be humanly possible. Although, to be fair, not everyone here was human. There were some dwarves, fairies, the likes. 

She managed to put on a nonchalant smile. “Yeah.”

“Sweet. I’m the cool new kid, Percy.”

“I knew that. My name is Rachel.”

He nodded to her, whispering, “Pretty name,” before taking out the notebook   in his bag, and started adding watercolor to it. He was so focused on the drawing that he was completely zoned out to the rest of the world. 

Rachel was close beside him, having taken a break to watch him paint. Her mouth dropped open when she saw the finished picture. “This is so random, but it looks just like my roommates eye.”

He studied the eye further. It did look eerily familiar. “Who?”

“Annabeth.” Huh. Come to think of it, he did remember her sitting next to Annabeth. 

He looked at the paper again, summoning up a mental picture of Annabeth. To Percy’s surprise it really did look like her. How had he ended up drawing a picture of a gray eye when he came specifically for color? He knew he had definitely used some color to get it to look like what it did, though.

He said to Rachel, “That is interesting. Anyway, I have to go now. See you later, Rachel.”

She had a smile almost as bright as her hair. “See you later. Bye!”

Percy waved a hand, giving her an easy smirk, as he left the classroom, his notebook in hand. 

He grabbed the pink hoodie and tugged it on like he had before. He was back in ultimate stealth mode . 

The blue lockers stood out to him as he passed by. A wide grin erupted over his face as a beautiful wave of inspiration hit him.

His eyes widened when someone on either side of him grabbed one of his arms. Oh, they were just those two guards that had taken him yesterday. And the day before. Boy, he was really doing good on his mischievousness(although not so good at not getting caught).

He had known them long enough that they deserved some names, he thought. 

The one to his left was short and round with an angry red face, and bulky muscles and short white hair. Percy decided to call him Lob. It fit him, cause he was red like a lobster. 

 Now, the man on the right. He was pretty much the exact opposite of Lob, with long, dark hair and skin, a tall, lean body that looked like it could be blown over with a single breath. It was crazy how strong he was based on his outstanding thinness. He could be Barry. Because…eh, Percy just liked the name.

They marched him right to detention where there was—drumroll—only Piper other than him. Auradon kids were such rule followers. Boring . 

Piper laughed at his sudden arrival. “Nice of you to join us. You almost missed out on the party.”

Fairy Godmother’s voice sounded pained. “It seems your friend, Miss Piper, is right. Now, Mr. Percy, you will be brought to detention by force every afternoon if must be. You will not be getting out of this. Now sit.”

Fairy Godmother said, “Work on your homework. Percy, I would like some lines saying, ‘I will be good.’ You may start by writing it ten times. Do you need a paper?”

“That’s okay. I have some of my own.” He got out his blue notebook once again and started writing, ‘I will be bad.’ 

He got distracted and wrote it more times than he meant, thinking exactly how he should execute his scheme. Lockers, papers, feelings. All those things could have a pretty devious combination. 

Fairy Godmother came by to check his progress. She looked like was about to cry, muttering, “Why, Ben? Why?”

Ah, the sweet feeling of causing another person(fairy) pain. Well, more rotten than sweet feeling, but it was what he was used to, so it was at least a sense of familiarity. 

“Start again. We will keep on doing this until you write it ten times.”

Percy raised his eyebrows. “ We will not be doing anything, I will.”

“Yes, we. I’m stuck here enforcing you. It is a team effort. Like a crew on a ship for your terminology .”

He didn’t say anything, instead continuing to write. This time he wrote, ‘It,’ ten times. 

FG looked like she was about to explode. “You will write this.”

Percy started to write, ‘This,’ as she watched. 

“For mice sake, what in Auradon are you doing?”

Percy crossed his arms. “I only disobeyed you once. First, you told me to write, ‘it,’ then you told me to write, ‘This.’”

She pinched the bridge of her nose, taking a deep breath. “You must write the specific words, ‘I will be good,’ ten times. You may not leave until then.”

Piper was watching with a bemused expression. Dork , she mouthed.

He stuck out his tongue at her, but she was already focused on her homework. Percy frowned. There was no way that she was actually working on homework. She was such an evil kid. Piper was more likely to destroy the world than obey the authority. 

Maybe she was doing her own prank. He’d ask her to collaborate with him, but this was a Percy and Annabeth thing. Better to not add more people in. It made it less personal. 

He scribbled on his page in the most illegible handwriting he could muster whilst still making it pass for the correct words, ‘I will be good.’ As if he would. All the assignment was asking him to do was add to the ‘naughty’ things by lying.

Fairy Godmother looked severely displeased by his work, but let it slide. 

Percy started writing the stuff for his plan down to make sure he would not forget. He did his usual method that he had learned from his time with Piper, and divided it up into parts.

Part 1: Write the letter.

Part 2: Locate Annabeth’s locker. 

Part 3: Sneak it in her locker

Part 4: Sit back and watch his plan unfold.

Now, he wondered what he should write. Whatever he did could add to his success. His overall goal was to get her to fall in love with him. When she found out it was him, she would be mortified. And she would have to acknowledge at least to herself that he was the ultimate prankster around.

He wondered briefly if Annabeth would try to prank him. What would she try? No, he decided. She was too much of a goodie two shoes to try anything. Surely she would try something to make him suffer, though. 

Percy pulled out his picture of the gray eye. It was such a typical thing to draw. But the eye was far from typical. Who else did he know with gray eyes? Or at least gray eyes filled with such coldness and determination. Why had he drawn such a specific thing? It was so random.

Fairy Godmother announced, “You may leave now. If you cause any more trouble, you will go straight back to my office.”

Piper and Percy quickly gathered up their stuff and left. Percy asked her, “Why didn’t you try to skip out on detention?”

“Eh, not worth it, I guess. Maybe being good wouldn’t be so bad.”

Percy felt his jaw drop. “How could you possibly think that so soon? It’s only been what, two days?”

She shrugged. “Two days can be long enough for plenty of things. And I made a friend.” The way she said friend made Percy suspicious that she meant something different than friends. Was it that she liked someone here? How could she so soon?

Chapter Text

A tourney game was going on at Auradon Prep. Like any dutiful student (who also happened to love sports), Annabeth was there watching the game. It was an… interesting game so far. 

Jason was playing, so she was sort of inclined to watch, but she would have come anyway. She loved to judge how badly everyone was playing. And of course, support the school team. 

To be honest, Jason was one of the boys that were awful at it. He in particular was probably the worst on the entire team. It was a (unfortunate) miracle he made it on the team by some twisted version of luck. Perhaps the lack of it

Annabeth was wearing an outfit far from that which she usually wore to school. An oversized hoodie with the Knights symbol on it, bright yellow with a large blue pocket. The school colors. Adding to that, was a pair of dull, worn-out sweatpants. And last but not least, her favorite baseball cap that she never wore other than to games. 

She loved the thrill of watching them play, even if her school team was sometimes bad at it. Every time her team scored a goal, she screamed along with most of the rest of the people in delight. “Go, Knights!”

An exceptionally fantastic goal was made but… It was from the other team. Great(not). 

A few minutes later, the ref flagged one of the kids on the Fighting Knight’s team. Annabeth’s body filled with rage, as she clenched her jaw so tight, she thought she would be sore later. He so did not deserve to get called out. The arrogant boy on the other team was the one that made the mistake. 

She screamed again (still in tune to several other people) about how unfair it was. Some of her words might not have been the most respectable of a princess, but that’s not a necessary subject to add.

At one point, Jason was given the ball and had a fumble. Annabeth tightened her fists at her side. It was just a game, she told herself. It was just a game! It was just a stupid game! IT WAS JUST A GAME! She worked herself up so much that she started to sweat. Not that she would ever admit to that. A princess did not sweat.

All in all, she didn’t hold anything against Jason. If he wanted to be on the team, that should be his prerogative. Even if he kept on messing the game up. It’s okay, she thought. Everyone messes up once in a while. It was perfectly okay for her team to mess up. One of her eyes twitched as she thought of messing up. The Knights had to win, though. Otherwise, they wouldn’t make it farther. Nope, it would be okay. It had to be okay. 

There was a moment where both teams were tied for the same number of points. Chad Charming had the ball and… didn’t make it into the goal. The other team got the ball. Annabeth barely held in her scream of frustration. 

Annabeth scrutinized the players and decided something felt off. Jay was just watching, not giving so much a lending hand. 

Why? Why was Jay not putting as much effort into his game as usual? That was not acting like normal for him. He was usually the star of the game. Now, he was the observer of the game, basically, with how little he was paying attention and contributing. Honestly, Jason was doing better than him at this point. 

In one long moment, Jay seemed to snap into focus, and tried to steal the ball from a boy on the opposing team who had it. He wrestled it out of his grip, but the ball fell right out of Jay’s hands, landing on the ground with a thud. Jay’s face turned an ashy gray(she had never hated that color so much as she did in that moment). His lips looked colorless, giving him a ghostly effect. 

Jay’s eyes fluttered weirdly, before he collapsed. She had known something was wrong. Would he be okay? He might have had a heart attack. He could be dead!

Why was this happening? Why was this happening? It wasn’t fair! It had to be the worst week ever. Mal and Ben ruined Auradon by bringing the Isle here. Percy wouldn’t stop pranking her. She had gotten told off. Percy had beat her in her best subject. And now Jay was passed out on the ground, his chest barely seeming to rise. 

Jay was only eighteen years old. He had his entire life ahead of him. He should have been able to grow up, to get married, to live his life. He couldn’t be dead. He just couldn’t!

Tourney didn’t matter anymore, she thought desperately. This was a matter of life and death. Jay could actually die. She could have watched someone die. 

An ambulance came, and he was rushed inside and brought away. But that didn’t stop Annabeth from seeing the black that was starting to streak his face. And she wasn’t the only one to have seen it. Everybody was going wild, some of his teammates getting down on their knees, seeming to pray. Jason was visibly crying. That’s what made it hit the hardest, seeing her tough(sometimes) cousin breaking down.

Annabeth pushed her way through the crowd and stormed inside. She finally managed to make it into the oddly empty hall. She would go to her locker and do some homework, she decided. It would put her mind to other things. 

She collided with someone, causing her to nearly fall down. She opened her mouth to apologize but closed it when she saw who it was. Percy. 

He steadied her shoulders, but she shoved him away. Dimly, she realized he looked oddly guilty. What had he done?

She spit out, “Get your Auradon butt away from me. I am fed up with you thinking you can just get in my personal space. Now, leave me alone. For good.”

A hurt look momentarily crossed his face, followed by a quick look of resignation, finally shifting into his usual grin. “Oh, but you know you would miss me. A day becomes more interesting with a little bit of evil.”

She was so not in the mood for this. “I said get away from me.”

He held up his hands in surrender. “Okay. I’m going.” He walked backwards away from her, holding up a countdown on his fingers. Three, two, one. What on earth was that for?

She rolled her eyes, walking the rest of the way to her locker. “Stupid boy,” she muttered under her breath. Part of her didn’t know who she was talking about. Percy, probably. Maybe Jay. Even Jason. Maybe all of them.

She reached her locker, the tension inside her rising. She stomped her foot like a little toddler, she was so frustrated. 

She was frustrated with Percy, with Jay, with life, with tourney, with death. With everything. 

She slammed her hands against her locker door. She slammed it so hard it left a dent. She had defaced school property, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. Her hands were bleeding, but that didn’t matter either. 

Nothing mattered. Nothing mattered at all. It was so—ugh, she didn’t know. She didn’t know, and that was what stung the most.

She knew almost nothing about Percy, hadn’t known anything about Jay, didn’t know if he would live, didn’t know what was going on, nothing. She wanted to scream. Scream until her voice felt as raw as her hands. That was something she could control. She needed something to control.

Tears threatened to fall, her eyes burning. But she couldn’t. She had to be perfect. And tears were far from it. 

She closed her eyes briefly and counted in her head. Three, two, one just like what Percy had done. She swung open the dented locker door, and grabbed her books. 

A small piece of paper fell from it. It was torn, like it had been ripped from a notebook. She carefully unfolded it, finally distracted, and read the contents. 

Annabeth, 

I have been watching you. Oy, that sounds stalkerish. I go to your school. So it’s not. I know you. Somewhat. I really, really like you. You’re cute and smart. 

Sincerely,

          Yours

Well, then. She was definitely distracted now. Someone was watching her?! Who? Why? How? She still had so many things she didn’t know, but these were things she could solve. 

The boy went to her school. That narrowed it down significantly. There were not that many boys at Auradon Prep. A lot, but not enough that she couldn’t figure it out. 

What did ‘somewhat’ mean, she wondered. That he knew her, but not a lot? 

A guilty twinge stung her at how quickly she had been distracted, but she shoved it away. This was what she wanted.

She tucked the letter into her hoodie pocket, grabbed her books, and headed to her dorm.

She dropped her books onto her bed, the result being a significant shift in the blanket. 

Her letter was still folded in her pocket, so she took it out and read it again.

The boy had said he really, really liked her. He had also called her cute and smart. Her cheeks felt hot as she re-read that part. How long had he liked her? And for goodness sake, who was he?

 She’d call him Sincerely Yours for now, she decided. That’s how he’d signed it even if he meant Yours. It just didn’t have the same ring to it. 

Sincerely Yours. Sincerely hers. Someone was hers. Who was hers? Why did they not sign it? Why were there always questions, but never answers? She would find her own answers, that was for sure.

Annabeth thought of Piper, talking about if there were any cute boys. Were any of the boys that cute? What if it ended up being a toxic boy? Or an idiot? Well, that might not be so bad. She could deal with ugliness, but she’d still prefer someone at least semi-decent. 

Wait, what was her type? Probably dark hair. She had always hated hers. Blonde hair was not that pretty in her opinion. At least on her. Green eyes would be nice, green like the sea. She didn’t care about the skin color. (She didn’t care about any of it all in all, but she didn’t have a preference on that) 

She could see the outline perfectly but was missing a face. Part of her started to wonder about his personality. Not a pushover, but it would be helpful if he was nice. Respectable. Was it bad for her to want someone funny? To bring some joy into her strict life?

Ugh, she was becoming such an idiot. Why was she thinking all about this boy? It wasn’t a big deal. Probably a prank. Or someone that was disgusting. She did not need to be thinking all about him. It was such a waste of time. 

Annabeth stood up and splashed some water on her face. She needed to be distracted from her distraction. It was not a helpful distraction. 

She knew that she should probably go to bed. Then she could wake up and everything would be fine. 

A few minutes later, her teeth were brushed, and she was in her pajamas. All she had left was to do her last little bit of homework. 

Of course, she had done most of it already. Only a little bit was left. And she liked to work ahead in case of emergencies. Some of both. And studying extra for a test never hurt anything. 

She drifted off to sleep while studying Chemistry. Her dreams were filled with a pair of eerie green eyes, love letters that continuously became stranger, and watching Jay collapse, again and again. Sometimes Jay shifted into other people. Jason. Her dad. Once it was Percy.

Chapter Text

A whisper, a cry, a shriek. So many different versions of everything. But one thing stayed the same. Jay, son of Jafar, was in critical condition. 

He had felt a pang in his chest when he found out. But they were never friends. Enemies might be a better term. Jay had Mal, and Percy had Uma. One of the biggest rivals on the Isle. 

No one knew what had happened. He was standing, and then he was not. Just like that. 

Percy has heard his fair share of rumors the moment the game ended. Someone told him Jay had become a dragon like Mal, shifting into that body and leaving his old one behind. Whoever that person was that started the rumor was dense and clearly didn’t actually know much about dragons. 

Another rumor was that he had a heart attack. That was the rumor most likely to be true. It was sad that he had been so young, though Percy knew his fair share of death and it was sad when they were old too. 

One theory suggested that an alien kidnapped Jay, and swapped bodies with him, but it did not work. It was illogical, but the absurdness of it amused Percy, and he was thankful for a way to make the situation lighter. 

He heard a group of kids whispering about how Fairy Godmother had punished Jay, making him lose the game. Percy didn’t know about that one, considering Fairy Godmother had been strict and annoying, but didn’t seem evil, which such an act would have required. 

According to the whispers, Jay had technically died, but been revived. It was incredible how advanced Auradon doctors were. There were no doctors in the Isle. People healed themselves the best they could. 

He wondered if that was why Annabeth had seemed so tense in the hall. Because she had watched someone basically die.

A girl whose name he did not yet know tapped his shoulder to get his attention. “Psst, did you hear about Jay?” Percy nodded. “They think it was an attempted murder.”

His eyes widened. Who would have tried to kill Jay? That one must definitely not be true. Unless it was his dad. But Jafar had never seemed so cruel as to do such a thing. He was one of the better ones as far as Isle parents went.

The murder idea was the one that got people hooked, starting a whole new branch of rumors. People started wondering if it was Carlos that had done it. Then Evie. Then Mal. Percy thought that was absolutely ridiculous. They were his best friends. 

Best friends on the Isle of the Lost meant a lot more than it did here, because it was so rare, so hard to come across. Mal, Carlos, or Evie hurting Jay other than playfully would just not happen. It was like him hurting Piper, or Piper hurting him. It was such an awful thought it made Percy visibly shudder. 

More whispers went around, but that was normal at this point. What wasn’t normal was how everybody was staring at Percy, making gestures to him. He didn’t understand what was going on until he realized he was getting the same glares Mal and her friends were. Oh, he thought. He was a suspect too, now. His name had joined the theories on who might have tried to kill Jay. 

He hadn’t known Jay super well, but he still knew him. He could picture his face, the long brown hair, the grin, the unusual lightheartedness. All of it burned into Percy’s mind. He would never kill anybody, no matter what the cost. Even if it made people think it was weak. 

A boy that was wearing a tourney jersey walked up to Percy and shoved him. “You better not have done this. It’s not just a funny prank.” Oh, he knew that. He knew that well. Better than the boy ever could have. 

A group of girls shrieked when he walked past them in the hallway. He wondered if Piper was being accused too because she was from the Isle. Probably. 

It seemed like suddenly everyone else was forgetting that Jay was from the Isle too. And Percy still didn’t think he had been poisoned, though. 

He wanted to scream, say it wasn’t fair. But when was it ever fair?

Percy desperately needed to get out of the Auradon air for a moment. At least away from the people. They didn’t have a clue what death really meant. For them it was just another thing to gossip about. When he was actually dead, their minds would change. 

He walked out to the garden, taking his time. Everything had been more lax, as of yesterday. No one was keeping an eye on him, forcing to stay stuffed in class or detention. All the focus was on whether Jay would live. Death must be really rare here. 

A girl bumped into him, much like with Annabeth yesterday. He must really be getting clumsy. Either that or fate just had it in for him. 

He reached out to help steady the girl, but she was already settled, brushing herself off. It was Mal, he realized. It had been so long since he had seen her in person. 

She was crying, crying harder than he had ever seen her cry before. To be fair, he had never seen her cry before. The fact that Mal was crying was concerning, something he knew well. 

He didn’t overly know what to do, but he muttered, “Are you okay?” He should have walked away. She knew him, she recognized him. Adding Mal onto his growing list of problems would not help. 

She glanced up to him, like she had just noticed he was there. She gasped. “Percy?”

He ducked his head, not wanting to make eye contact. “Yeah.”

She managed a small watery smile. “Long time no see.”

“Yeah,” was all he said again. He made a hasty excuse before walking hurriedly in the other direction. 

She called out to him, “Good-bye,” in a choked voice. 

Percy pretended to not hear her, but he heard her voice all too well. He was being selfish, leaving her alone like this when she was grieving. But she had Ben. She would be alright. She would be okay. He would be okay. They would all be okay. Maybe even Jay would be okay. 

He walked to the lake, sitting beside it. He crept close enough to dip his feet in, and instantly felt better. Safe. Water was his home, and it always would be. It would protect him.

Because somehow his luck was incredibly cursed, Uma joined him. Water draws water. Maybe she had been overwhelmed too. Doubtful. 

She didn’t say anything, instead sitting right next to him, dangling her feet beside his in the water. 

Why did it have to be that now was the time they ran into each other? Just when he was really needing a break?

They sat there, watching the water together, neither saying a word. Percy was upset with himself for having faltered, surely because Jay’s kind of death had shaken him. But he shouldn’t have been affected. He shouldn’t have. But he was. 

Uma was gazing out at the water, when she murmured, “Are you okay?”

Percy bit the inside of his lip. “Yeah, I’m okay. It just brings back memories, you know?”

She sighed. “I know.”

Percy was ashamed of how his voice broke. “It makes me think of Silena. Piper’s sister. And others, of course.”

“Huh. It makes me think of one of my crewmates. Fred, I believe his name was. They don’t get it.”

He nodded slowly. “They don’t. It’s all a game to them.”

Uma looked worried. Maybe it was a day of showing feelings. Oy, that sounded tacky. Never mind, he thought.

She said, “But it’s not a game for us, remember? Remember that.” 

There was definitely no way he would ever forget. Never in a million years. 

His sister started humming softly. It was pretty, an old sea shanty. One they had grown up hearing. It brought more memories, but these ones were good. A peaceful reminder. Like when waves aren’t big or fierce, but just dancing at the shore, covering your feet, but not sinking you. 

The wind blew around them, carrying a faint smell of the ocean. Oh, how he missed it. Once he was able to escape from here, he would travel all the oceans. 

Still being way more kind that she would ever be caught acting like, Uma nudged him. “What are you thinking about?”

He meant to say traveling but instead, “Mal,” slipped out.

Uma’s look darkened, and all kindness vanished. “She’s not worth your brain space.” 

Like usual, anything sweet was gone, never to come back. Percy figured it was time for him, too, to toughen up. He let all expression drop from his face, leaving only a scowl in its wake.

He stood, leaving the peaceful water behind. Small waves made way for big ones, did they not? 

Uma stayed behind, seemingly still lost in old memories, better lost or forgotten.

The walk back to his dorm felt treacherous like he was carrying an extra fifty pounds on his shoulders. 

Frank was there, playing some video game when Percy arrived. He paused his game to call out, “Wanna play?”

No , Percy thought. “Of course,” Percy said. 

Frank nodded in his direction. “Cool.”

Percy grabbed the other headset and joined him in playing. It was hard to get the hang off, but once he did, he managed to do pretty well. 

They played game after game, furthering the numbness to his mind. It was fun, but Frank was pretty bad at it. He wasn’t bad at the beginner levels as he never made it off of those, though. 

Frank said he needed to go to bed, that he couldn’t stay up. Percy thought that was stupid considering tomorrow was Saturday, but each to their own. 

Soon, the sound of loud snoring filled the air. Percy started to sing the pirate shanty Uma had hummed quietly, to distract himself from the noise. He was far from the great singer Uma was, but he managed to (mostly) hit all the right notes. 

The day had been one of the longest he had ever experienced. A day full of dredged up memories better left buried like a pirate chest never to be found. A day filled with death. A day filled with accusations. The amount of gossip that had surfaced was incredible. Incredibly awful, perhaps. 

Percy continued singing, trying to hold onto the good memories. The safe memories. 

He laid there in his bed filled with hopelessness. Oh well for Auradon being happier, brighter, safer than the Isle. It was still gloomy, but in different ways. And these were ways he didn’t know how to deal with. 

He steadied his breath, matching it to the distinct sound of waves that never left his ears. It wasn’t like what he had heard earlier, this was something deeper. More of a feeling than a sound. But a sound, nonetheless. It was hard to explain, but it was part of him, just as much as his heart beating was.

He let out a silent prayer that Jay would be okay. Somehow. Jay needed to live. Percy knew somewhere inside himself that Jay needed to live. That he wasn’t done yet. 

Death was a thief, and a despicable one at that. He hated Death. And he hated all that represented it. There was a reason he didn’t claim his dad. As far as he was concerned, he didn’t have one. He renounced death, he had long ago. 

He let his mind wander to other things. Death didn’t need his attention. He thought about the short time he had been here. How until day, most had been accepting. Other than Annabeth. He shook his head, trying to shake all thoughts from his mind. 

The moment when sleep enveloped him warmly was a miraculous one. 

When he woke up, news, official news came out, saying that Jay was expected to recover fully. 

Chapter Text

Annabeth, to her horror, cried from relief when she heard the news. She furiously wiped them away, making sure nobody else could find out. Strong princesses didn't cry. Only the weak ones that had no sense of how to act. 

Jay was from the Isle. She shouldn’t have cared but watching someone ‘die’ hit different. It was beyond where a person lived. 

It was a Saturday, thank goodness, so there was no school. She had a day to just catch up on everything. Relax. Sit back. She had a few hours to do absolutely nothing, exactly like she needed/wanted. 

Problem: A few hours go by quickly when you don’t want it to. All too soon, Rachel was pulling her up. “Come on. It’s time for the movie.”

Annabeth groaned. “First, hypocrite. Second, why?” She did not want there to be any risk of someone being able to tell that she had cried recently. Ugh, she shuddered at the thought. 

Rachel said, “You are coming. You’re, like, the most-likely person to be at every event ever. Why do you not want to go to this one?”

“Ugh, fine. But I am so not in the mood for people-ing.”

Rachel raised her eyebrows. “People-ing?”

“Yes. Don’t judge.”

Rachel made a face. “Okay.”

“You are so judging,” Annabeth said, starting to get annoyed.

She pursed her lips. “No. No, I am not.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Okay,” Rachel repeated. 

“Stop with the ‘okays'!” 

Rachel nodded, blinking her eyes sadly. “Okay.”

Annabeth shoved her shoulder playfully. “Shut up.”

“Never. Seriously, though, I want to go, and I want you to go with me. Please?” She clasped her hands together and jutted out her bottom lip.

“We just went over this. I said fine.”

Rachel squealed. “Yay!”

“I still don’t get why you want to go so bad. We won’t get in trouble for skipping it.”

Rachel looked away. “I, uh, was hoping someone would be going.”

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. “Who?”

Rachel’s cheeks turned red. “You know who. Percy.”

Annabeth grimaced. “And now I want to go even less.”

Rachel folded her arms. “Nope, too late. You already said you would go.”

Annabeth wondered if Sincerely Yours would be there. Not that it mattered… Well, she did want to know his identity. That wasn’t weird. But not because of the crush on her thing, but because it was a mystery. She was not interested in finding out who had a crush on her, because then she would have to reject him.

Rachel and Annabeth made their way to the crowd outdoors, already piling up to see the movie. Annabeth asked, “What movie are we watching?”

Rachel paused for a second, looking like she was trying to remember. “Uh, Glider-man, I think.”

“Glider-man? That old movie where Parker Peterson is bit by a, what is it called? Sugar coat? Oh, duh, sugar glider?”

Rachel laughed, her laugh musical like a bell in the distance. “Yeah, haven’t you watched it before?”

“Yes, but it’s been a long time.”

They were distracted by someone coming between them. “Ladies,” Leo said. 

Annabeth rolled her eyes at the notorious flirt, thinking of seeing him the other day. “Hi, Leo.”

He wiggled his eyebrows. “Hello, Lady.”

Annabeth smacked his shoulder lightly. “Enough with the lady. We have names.”

She felt the sense of someone behind her and turned to see Percy. Great, they were becoming their own sub-crowd. 

Percy flashed a smirk. “I’ve met Miss Princess Pants here, and lovely Miss Rachel, but I have no idea who you are.” He gestured to Leo.

Leo said, “Leo, son of Queen Elena and King Mateo.”

Percy nodded. “Nice, nice. I’m Percy, born and raised, somewhat at least, by Ursula.” He didn’t offer his dad’s name. Annabeth guessed that meant he was someone not important that none of them would recognize.

To Annabeth’s great misfortune, she ended up sitting in between Leo and Percy, by Rachel’s assistance that they sat by them. Jason and Piper joined them soon. In order from left to write it went: Rachel, Percy, Annabeth, Leo, Piper, Jason. 

Jason came because he had no other friends than Annabeth because he was just like that. Piper came to sit next to Percy, although she still ended up a few seats from him. Annabeth would have been overjoyed to trade with her, but they were already seated when she came, and the movie had previously started. 

When Frank passed by, thirty minutes late, Percy waved him over, and he sat next to Jason. They took up almost a full row at this point. 

The movie started in a high school, somewhat like Auradon Prep, but much less neat, and more like a house, than a castle. Pretty much a poor founded school.

Parker Peterson, the main character, had a close friend named Perry Oshorn. In the movie, Perry was supposed to be a good role-model, it looked like. 

There was a girl with blonde hair that was a total ditz named Majie. Majie was definitely the future love interest. Eye roll. 

Percy nudged Annabeth. “This movie is quite lame, don’t you think?”

She hated to agree with him, but she did. “I guess,” she muttered. After all, the action was just Parker flying above everyone and singing about how good goodness was. Did Auradon Prep act like that? She hoped not, because it was stupid and ridiculous. 

She was grateful when the movie finished. Usually movie nights were semi-decent, but whoever had picked this movie did an awful job. Parker’s outfit was a brown, furry thing that did not help in making him more serious. Not in the slightest. 

Rachel announced quietly, “Let’s get some smoothies.”

Annabeth frowned. “We’d have to leave campus. Wouldn’t we get in trouble?”

Rachel shrugged. “Probably not, it’s the weekend anyway.”

Frank, too, looked distinctly uncomfortable with the thought. “I don’t think we should do this.”

Leo said, “Then we can all go, and your wimpy self can be left behind.”

Frank did not look pleased by those words. “Fine, I’ll go.”

A 100% evil grin spread across Percy’s face. “Wonderful. Piper and I are in too.”

Piper glared at him. “You can’t speak for me. I am going, though.”

Right after she said that, Jason agreed to go. How was Annabeth supposed to opt out now? She couldn’t just ditch him. 

She sighed. “I guess. Only for an hour, though.” Why did she agree? Why did she agree? What was wrong with her that spurred her to agree? Why? Just why? And she had to go with Percy too. She was above this. She knew better. But she still did it.

Annabeth looked up directions to the nearest smoothie shop, which was thirty minutes by walk. Ugh. That would not be fun with a crew of seven people. She would have to keep track of everybody. Maybe she could just let Percy wander off, she thought. 

They walked on the sidewalk for what felt like forever. This was a bad idea. It was such a bad idea. Rachel told her to just shut up and enjoy the scenery after Annabeth said how much of a bad idea it was for the billionth time. 

Percy smirked(which made it worse). “Loosen up.”

She crossed her arms. “I am loose . Now be quiet before I become evil too.”

“Ah, but I like evil.”

“Just stop, before I actually do hurt you. I can find a way to not get blamed for it. Anyone would believe me before you.”

He said insufferably, “Well, now you’ve announced your plans to five other people. I have witnesses. Good luck with that.”

“Can you two just stop with the threats? I’m usually all for it, but you guys have a way of making it annoying,” Piper said. 

Annabeth scowled, but didn’t say further. It wasn’t worth it, and would just be a waste of time. Isle kids. They knew nothing. 

They finally reached their destination after way too long, and walked into the shop. 

Percy picked a blueberry smoothie, Annabeth noticed. Blueberries were gross. She picked a smoothie called Strawberry Peach Bliss. Fancy name, but everything was fancy in Auradon, really. 

Piper and Jason were talking to each other. Did they like each other?

How did no one realize how much of a danger Piper and Percy were? Overall, Jay, Mal, Carlos, and Evie had proved themselves. At least enough to know they were safe. Unless they were playing the long game. 

They were still less likely to be evil than Piper and Percy, though. She didn’t know either of their dads, but Piper was the daughter of Mother Gothel, and Percy the son of Ursula. Neither of them were as bad as Maleficent, and Mal had turned out fine, but it was still a dangerous game, waiting to see who would betray them. 

Leo moved to sit by Annabeth. He seemed to try to do a very weird version of the smolder. “Hey. Can I sit here?” 

Annabeth nearly laughed. She would never date him or like like him, but he was a ‘two years younger than me goofball’ in her eyes. Kind of like a younger brother. An annoying one at times, though.

She nodded. “Yeah.” He sat down beside her and started explaining his favorite video game. He was such a dork, she realized. But maybe that wasn’t so bad. 

Maybe they could be friends. Goody two shoes and class clown. Interesting combination of friends. She didn’t like being here, knowing it was breaking the rules, but she could see it. She tried to not add Piper and Percy to the image, but they somewhat strayed in. She was already friends with Rachel, and knew she could be with Frank. To be honest, she could imagine being good friends with Piper too. 

Annabeth was ashamed of it, but she liked the thought of them all being friends. She shouldn’t. She shouldn’t want to be friends with anybody from the Isle, especially because Percy was so annoying, but she still liked the thought.

The walk back was a much more enjoyable experience than the walk there. She found herself talking to Piper like they had been friends for ages. Leo and Percy continuously cut in with jokes. Annabeth was convinced they must be having a contest to see who was funnier.

Jason mostly kept to himself but did talk more to Piper somewhat. At this point, she was convinced he liked Piper. Usually, he never dared talk to any other girl than Annabeth. 

Frank was also pretty funny. He seemed shy, but what he did contribute to the conversation was definitely memorable. He could say the strangest things in such an off-handed way that made everyone laugh, leaving him confused as to what he said. 

Rachel mostly just flirted with Percy. Not veiled like Jason to Piper, but blatantly telling him that he was “so cute,” and she kept on touching his shoulder lightly and smiling around him. 

Come to think of it, she did look like she was trying to dress nicer and whatnot. Her hair was pulled into a neat bun, and she had traded her normal faded t-shirt and paint-stained pants for a pretty blue flower dress. She was wearing make-up, not that she needed it, and had eyeliner that made her green eyes pop. 

The moment the group were back at Auradon Prep, Fairy Godmother appeared in front of them. “I have been looking for all of you for a long time. You will be in a lot of trouble.” Annabeth had never seen her so mad. 

A guard each grabbed Percy and Piper. Annabeth heard Percy whisper, “Lob and Barry.” Lob and Barry? 

Fairy Godmother announced, “Miss Piper and Mr. Percy here will be on complete lockdown with the exception of classes, and the rest of you will have detention for a week.”

Annabeth clenched her fists by her side. Why did she agree? She had known it was a bad decision, but she had done it nonetheless. Her ears became so hot that it felt like they were burning. A deep anger settled inside her. She hoped her glare gave Percy said, I hate you . 

She would not stay friends with any of those kids. None of them were worth her time. 

Chapter Text

Her door opened, revealing a familiar face. She didn’t know how he had got there, but somehow, he had. 

It felt a little out of the norm that he was there, but when had life been normal anytime recently?

“What are you doing here?” she asked him.

“I wanted to see a pretty lady,” he said charmingly.

That brought a smile to her face. “No, seriously, what do you want?”

The smile placed upon her face dropped without a second thought upon hearing his words.

“We need you.”

“Who is we?” she asked. 

He answered, “That is for later. For now, I need your answer. Do you think the Isle and Auradon should have mixed?”

She bit the inside of her cheek. “I don’t know. I think it was better the way it was before. It’s not welcoming here.”

He said, “Oh, but I’ll be welcoming. I’ve already invited you to a secret place with only the most trusted people.”

Her smile was back. “You think I’m trustworthy?”

“Eh, that's up for debate. I think you could be trustworthy, and I think I can trust you, but I don’t know that you wouldn’t betray someone.” 

She shrugged, trying to hide her disappointment. “Fair enough.”

“Fair enough, but not good enough, correct?”

She nodded hesitantly, while he continued. “It never is. That’s why I want your help. You know what things really cost. How much things matter. Why something so simple as saying that you are trustworthy could change your entire view on life.”

What he was saying didn’t fully register, but what did hit hard. 

“Are you trying to use me?” she asked. 

“Well, that’s a matter of opinion. Think of it like I’m recruiting you.”

“Recruiting me?” she repeated. 

“Precisely. So you in, or no?”

She steadied her features into a careful poker face. “That depends. What does it entail?”

“A little danger. A little pain. Perhaps a little poison.”

Her eyes widened. “So that was what happened.”

“Bingo. Are you willing to do what it takes?” he asked. 

“Maybe. What will we accomplish?”

“We will be separated again.”

“We?”

His voice came out irritated. “Why do you keep repeating what I say?”

She pulled back, retreating into the smallest part of her. “Never mind,” she whispered. 

His features softened. “I’m sorry, that was rude of me. We, as in you and me, don’t have to separate, necessarily. You could rule by my side.”

She couldn’t hide her surprise. “Like, be the queen? What about Ben and Mal?”

“They’ll be gotten rid of.”

“Oh. We’d be king and queen?”

He looked frustrated again, but he put on what looked like a very much forced smile. “Exactly, although, you do understand that all of this, especially you and I ruling, needs to stay a secret, right?”

She frowned. He was treating her like a child, which she hadn’t been for a long time. Maybe she never had been one. 

“Of course I understand. But I still don’t get why.”

“What is it that you don’t get?”

She said, “Why you want this.”

“Oh, I want a lot from it. I have powers, and I think I might as well use them. I want the power, the attention, all that inner selfish stuff. But most of all, I want everything to be good again. With untamed villains, our world will be chaos. You know that.”

She did. She knew just how villainous and cruel some of those villains were. Was a second chance really necessary? Maybe some deserved it, like the kids. But the kids could have a trial or a test to measure their safeness. The adults were all bad, save some sidekicks, and some falsely accused. Okay, maybe it was not as simple as a yes or no question. 

“I don’t know,” she said. “That’s a lot.”

He smiled, a slow smile that crept over his face inch by inch until it was a grin, like he was experiencing euphoria. That might have been the most unsettling part of his demeanor, the strange happiness he portrayed at that moment. 

“Well, I’ll leave you to it, then. Meet me tomorrow with your answer.”

“Oh, tomorrow, wow that’s soon. Um, okay. Thank you.”

He waltzed his way to the door. “Fair warning, if you tell anyone I will have to kill you.” He grinned in a way that made it hard to tell if he was joking or not. That was not something to joke about, but it was absurd. She had heard worse, of course, but still.

His absence felt wrong, for some reason. Maybe it was because there was more he needed to tell. But she had a sinking suspicion that it was because she missed him already. 

Should she do it? It sounded extreme for her to be queen. But she didn’t have to be queen. She could just be free. Was it bad or good for the villains to be put back in the Isle again? What did good vs. bad even mean anymore? Why did he ask her? Did he like her? Did she want him to like her?

She felt dizzy from all the thoughts. Things should just be clear, simple and easy. It didn’t need all the extra complications to it. Like whether or not the villains should be sent back should be a yes or no question, not a whole, multi-layer question with sub-points and bunches of whatnots. 

Why, why did everything have to be complicated? That kind of stuff would just throw her off, again and again. She missed when stuff was as simple as 2+2. At least then she knew what was going on.

She opened her window and snuck outside carefully. The smell of the flowers was peaceful. One fell in a perfect spiral from somewhere above. She reached out and delicately grabbed it. 

She copied something else she had seen some do before. “I should, I should not.” “I should, I should not.” The pretty flower had many little petals, so it took a while to complete. The last petal fell when she said, “I should not.” 

But what if she should? Would she end up regretting it? What if she regretted not doing it? Ugh, this was not helping.

The thing was, how would she feel in the future if she gave up this opportunity? How would she feel if she made the wrong decision?  All throughout her life, she had never been given the chance to do something for herself. Not that she could, she didn’t know what to do.

She laid down on the ground, gazing at the bright blue sky. Her thoughts were scrambled, but before she knew it, she was asleep. On the ground. 

When she woke up, her thoughts had sorted. She would do it.  

Chapter Text

#mondaysaremiserableandshouldbebanned was what Percy scribbled on his paper as he waited for his second class of the day to be over. 

BUT…if Mondays were nonexistent, Tuesdays would be miserable. But then would there only be four days of the school/work week? Or…would there be only one day of the weekend? If so, it would so not be worth it to give up Mondays. 

Technically, technically he was supposed to be doing school by himself with a teacher or FG or something, but that was boring beyond belief, so he snuck off and joined the other kids. He really should not have skipped that to still go to class, but at least doing this he would probably be in less trouble. Maybe. 

He was not sitting anywhere near Annabeth. She had made sure all seats within a two mile(two seats near her in all directions) radius were occupied. 

They had started to be connecting, and she had seemed to start to not hate him, until they got caught. Yeah, then? He didn’t think a glare had ever been filled with such hatred, and he had seen a lot of fiery and murderous glares before.

When she looked at him like that, filled with pure venom, his heart dropped ever so slightly. She hated him, she really, truly hated him, and he deserved it. He usually did so much more, but it still made him feel awful. 

Frank wasn’t talking to him either, and Piper had somehow gotten super busy. Jason might as well have vanished(probably Annabeth’s influence). Leo was not quite avoiding him, but not actively seeking him out either. He seemed kind of scared, almost. To be fair, Percy was on complete lock-down and talking to him was supposed to be a big no-no. 

The only person that had not completely abandoned him from the group was Rachel. Quite the opposite. Percy had snuck out of his room yesterday, and she had seen him, then decided to hang out with him for the entire rest of the day. 

He didn’t mind her company. It was boring to be alone, especially for long periods of time. It didn’t hurt that she was cute. A little bit more good than he was used to, but not so much as some of the others. 

Oh, he needed to write Annabeth another letter. He couldn’t just stop the prank now. He was in it for the long run. His goal: make Annabeth fall in love with him. He wouldn’t stop until he succeeded. 

A pencil hit him in the back of his head. He turned around, just about ready to permanently maim someone. There were no obviously outstretched arms, but when he saw a familiar face he knew who it was. 

Thalia, his greatest enemy from the Isle. He hated her so much it could never be put in words. Perhaps this was how Annabeth felt about him. If so, he was going to struggle to have to deal with someone’s pure hatred of him. Although, of course Thalia hated him too. 

How had she gotten here? Did they already open it up? It hadn’t even been a week yet! Faces that he recognized started to draw his eye, making it feel impossible that he hadn’t noticed yet. 

He looked away from her, silently daring her to try to get his attention again. Next time, it wouldn’t be so pretty. 

Ah, but of course, Isle kids knew how to recognize a dare and never turned one down. She threw another pencil at him, but somehow it still wasn’t noticed. 

He stood up quickly and walked over to her. “Listen up, Pinecone Face. Mess with me again and you’re in for it.” He knew calling her that dug into her skin, reminding her of an old incident, like Shrimpy to Uma. 

She merely laughed. “What could you even do to me? I’m safe now.”

“I won’t harm you, you know that. But I will make your life miserable.”

She reached out, patting his cheek mockingly. “Aw, is the poor little baby too afraid to hurt a girl.”

“I’m not afraid to hurt a girl! I’m not afraid of anything! I’m against hurting anyone because some things are just wrong!” He didn’t realize he was shouting until he finished. 

The teacher called out his name sharply. Percy wished beyond belief that he could wipe off the satisfied smirk that now rested on Thalia’s face. She knew what she was doing. She had planned for this. 

His vision rimmed red, and next thing he knew he was in Fairy Godmother’s office. Yikes, he was in trouble with a capital T now.

She closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose at the same time. “Why do you keep on doing this? Skipping out, escaping, threatening, and pulling pranks? Really?”

Percy’s heart thudded as a realization came to him. “Did I hurt anyone?”

A look of befuddlement crossed her face. “No, not as far as I know. Do you remember hurting anyone?”

He sighed in relief. “No, just lost control for a moment.”

She still looked puzzled, but asked again, “Why?”

“Eh, I don’t know. Whatever the case, I’m going.”

She started to protest, and called the guards, but he started to sing lightly. A quick melody sure to distract them. He could escape, and no one would remember. 

It helped to be part-siren. His mom had received the power from her mom, but had lost it in a bet. There was a reason she had wanted Ariel’s voice. He was lucky that she had still been able to pass it down.

Too bad Ursula had been the only one to be named a villain, when Ariel had tried to lure the prince to his death, and upon failing, escaping the sea to attract him, convinced it was a game. She never killed him, adoring the attention, and liking the idea of being queen when she would never have been, being the youngest of seven. 

Of course, Ursula deserved it. There was no doubt about it, she was evil. But Ariel wasn’t ever accused. The victor always gets to tell the story. 

He walked away, still singing. It was strange to see the blank faces, strange because he hadn’t seen it in so long. He didn’t allow himself to feel a shred of guilt. If he did it too often, or even more than a few times to one person it could kill them. But he was a villain, a disgusting, wretched villain. He was merciless.

Every time he saw someone, he let his voice reach them, making sure they would never remember his presence. 

He climbed back up to the roof, and started his next letter. He started with some questions. 

1. How long should it be this time?
2. How revealing should it be?
3. How sweet should it be?

And the big banger:

     4. What should it be about?

Okay, he had no idea. Next, he tried to divide it up into parts. 

Part 1: Answer his first 3 questions. 

Part 2: Answer the final question 

Part 3: Write it out

Part 4: Put in Annabeth’s locker.

Starting with part one, he had to answer his questions. He looked at his list. It should be longer than the first. Maybe half a page? Yeah, that sounded about right, although he’d figure it out for sure during part three. He’d finished part one, section one. 

Now, how revealing should it be? That was a stupid question. Not enough for her to trace it back, that was for sure.

How sweet should it be? He winced at how he had phrased that. Charming, not sweet. And full-on. As charming as it got. So sweet , it’d be sickening. Part one, done. 

Now, for what he should write. He tapped his fingers against the notebook, not able to come up with an answer. He wrote down, Tell her she is pretty . No, he already said that last time. Girls liked to hear more depth than that. He had already said that she was smart. What about, Your wisdom knows no boundaries, and continues to amaze me ? Was that tacky? Eh, it’d be tacky either way.

What else? Your face expresses things like no others. Yeah, like her anger and hatred. It must be a sign of your out of this world beauty . Okay, he was getting there. Ooh, what about comedy? 

I’m an idiot, and quite ugly, so there’s little chance you might like me back, but it never hurts to try, right? Yeah, that sounded good. What about an actual joke? Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all? I’ll give you a hint, they’re funny and also quite tall. Oh, what was that? It’s me! Just kidding—it’s 100% you(; 

There, he had a good start. Now, he could start part three. 

Annabeth,

Ah, it’s me again. Neat, huh? I thought you ought to know your wisdom knows no boundaries, and continues to amaze me every time I hear your voice. Your beauty eludes me, in a way that I can barely comprehend is real. I’m an idiot, and quite ugly, so there’s little chance you might like me back, but it never hurts to try, right?   Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all? I’ll give you a hint, they’re funny and also quite tall. Oh, what was that? It’s me! Just kidding—it’s 100% you(; I’m a close second though, I hope. Oh wait—I’m ugly. Never mind that then. I wish you the best of days, only the best for a princess after all. 

Ugh, he needed more. What was it missing? Another joke, perhaps? Eh, maybe. 

I would like to warn you, before you fall from heaven when you fall for me (; that I am perhaps crazy. I love blueberries, maybe a little too much. You’ll have some competition. When I said I am crazy, I didn’t mean it, of course. Just kidding, I meant it. 

Sincerely, 

         Yours

That sounded semi-decent. She probably wouldn’t be fooled by it, but it never hurt to try. Was the winky face twice too much? Or was it too little? Should he not have said anything about being crazy? Nah, it was funny. 

He needed to stop worrying. Worrying was for nerds. And he wasn’t a nerd. He didn’t even like reading. In fact, he hated it. Reading was for nerds, and worrying was for nerds. That solved it, then. 

He ripped off the piece of paper from his notebook. It was good enough, and Annabeth could just deal with it. He added that underneath where he had written #mondaysaremiserableandshouldbebanned. #deal with it . His official list of things that qualified under a hashtag. 

He made his way down, before starting his walk to Annabeth’s locker. He remembered exactly where it was. He was finally starting to get his way around. Yay!

He had forgotten that he was controlling everybody so that they wouldn’t remember. Well, that he had. And now he needed to do it again. 

He sang a different song this time, one about how the sea would not be restrained. Most people misunderstood the power of sirens, and how it worked. It didn't matter what you sang, just that you sang it. Anybody would fall prey to it, except another siren. 

Percy might as well have been invisible with how well it worked. Everybody ignored them, it was like he had vanished from existence at that moment. 

Problem: When siren powers were used, any sirens close by got a sort of warning bell? Alarm thing? It was hard to explain.

Now, it might seem like there would be no other sirens in the school, but…Uma. He and his sister were not technically sirens, but they still had the powers of them. 

It didn’t take her long to intercept him. When Uma found him, she asked, “What do you think you are doing?”

He shrugged nonchalantly. “Nothing.”

“We both know it’s not nothing. Siren voices are not respected or valued like at home. You could get in a lot of trouble for this. And more than just detention or lock-down.”

“Aw, someone’s been keeping tabs on me. How sweet!”

She gave him a death glare. “I’m serious. Be careful.”

He sighed dramatically. “Fine, whatever. You can go now.”

She narrowed her eyes. “I’ll go in a minute. First, I need you to promise me that you will not get in trouble for this, and you won’t do it again.”

“Of course, Pirate’s honor.”

When she left a moment later, he uncrossed his fingers behind his back with a smirk. He muttered, “Pirate’s honor means nothing, of course.” Lies never hurt anyway, not much at least. 

He sang quietly the rest of the way to Annabeth’s locker. She was there when he arrived, so he waited around the corner. He didn’t want to use it on her, for some reason that was beyond him. It just felt worse. 

She turned his way, and for a moment he was afraid that she had caught him. He caught a glimpse of her face, seeing tears streaked down her cheeks.

Chapter Text

Annabeth heard a song, like a chime far away in the wind. It was familiar, she had heard it before. She must have. 

Pressure built inside her when she heard the song. It was like home, a home she would never go back to again.

She bit her lip, fighting back tears, and grabbed her books from her locker. Why did she feel so sad all of the sudden? It had just attacked her seemingly out of nowhere.

A piece of paper fell from the top of her stack. She picked it up, and stuck it into one of her books. It didn’t matter right now. She had other things to worry about. 

Don’t cry, she told herself. It was stupid. She had no reason. But the song brought back memories. 

Her mind continued to spiral, until she couldn’t hold back the images flashing through her mind. 

Aunt Elsa grabbed Mom’s hand, Annabeth following close behind. She brought them to a large room filled with mostly melted snow. Annabeth knew that room; it was the room where Aunt Elsa usually showed off her tricks. 

She whispered, “I’ve been practicing, seeing what I can do. I found an old Nolthuldran book that has a bunch of information in it. I can make different colored snow. Only red so far, though. 

Annabeth watched Mom’s face go bright, her smile eager. “I love the trick and I haven’t even seen it yet!”

Aunt Elsa laughed. “Slow your roll, Anna.” She turned to Annabeth. "I can't believe you’re old enough to watch me do my tricks.”

Annabeth frowned. “But I’ve seen it before. And I’m seven. You showed Mom tricks when she was probably younger than me.”

Aunt Elsa’s face darkened. “Oh.” She said the word so downcast that Annabeth instantly felt bad. 

“I’m sorry,” she quickly said. She didn’t understand why she was sorry, or what she had done that she needed to be sorry for, but she did know that she was sorry. 

Aunt Elsa shook her head. “No, no it’s fine.”

The subject was dropped after that. Aunt Elsa’s eyes went all the way white, in a way that shouldn’t have been possible. They looked like they were made of ice. 

Annabeth shivered. It felt like the temperature had just dropped substantially. 

Mom was grinning eagerly in anticipation of a new trick, looking like a little kid in her excitement. 

Aunt Elsa lifted up her hand, and started to sing lightly. It was not too uncommon for someone to start singing; people in Auradon loved music. But when had she ever sung when doing her magic?

Her snow came out beautiful, but weird. It was like liquid, glittering darker than snow should ever be. It looked like a pool of silver. Aunt Elsa had a look of deep concentration on her face, and the weird looking snow turned red, now looking like blood. 

It was amazing to see, but horrifying. The snow had power written all over it. Annabeth knew Aunt Elsa was capable of many things, but this? It didn’t feel like it should be possible. 

Mom was staring at the snow, laughing in delight at the absurd color. “I remember a time when Olaf was talking about different colors of snow. We should have woken him up so he could enjoy it too.”

Aunt Elsa looked furious. “Are you saying that I made a mistake?”

Mom’s eyes widened comically. “Of course not, I just—”

“Whatever. Just stop.” Aunt Elsa was scowling, but her face shifted into a large grin. “I just love this, don’t you?”

Mom looked relieved, Annabeth noticed. “Yes, I do.” She reached out to touch it, to feel the colorful, liquidy snow. 

What happened next would forever be ingrained in Annabeth’s mind. No amount of years could wipe the memory away. 

Someone screamed loudly, startling Annabeth. What was going on? Aunt Elsa was still smiling, but Mom was screaming. Her arms began to have red streaks through them, like veins. Mom’s face was pale, her lips turning an ashy gray. Her fingers were turning black rapidly. 

Annabeth knew she was making it worse when she screamed too. Somewhere, in her seven year old mind, watching the worst moment of her life, she knew that her screaming was making it worse. Because now there were two people screaming. 

Aunt Elsa’s smile dropped from her face, and it was like she woke up. But just as soon as she came to her senses, she collapsed to the ground. 

Annabeth didn't know what to do. Something was happening to her mom, and she didn’t know what. And Aunt Elsa was unconscious. Would either of them be alright? She ran to her aunt, trying desperately to wake her. 

She was able to stop screaming now that she had something to do. She just had to wake Aunt Elsa. An eerie silence filled the air, making Annabeth realize that Mom had stopped screaming. 

Mom, too, was on the ground. Her hands where she had touched the death snow were completely black. Her face was so pale she looked see-through. But she had stopped. She had stopped screaming. Stopped everything. 

“What happened?” Aunt Elsa asked. She was awake! Annabeth wrapped her up in a tight hug. But she still needed to go to Mom. She had to fix it, she had to do something. 

Then her world broke. Mom wasn’t breathing. She’d stopped that too. Aunt Elsa was okay, but Mom was not. She would never be okay. No, she’d always be the cold, lifeless body that rested in front of Annabeth.

“Annabeth!” someone said sharply. She was quickly brought back to the present. She realized that she was on the ground, shaking with silent sobs. 

She looked up at the person and realized that it was Percy. She let out a bitter laugh. Of course it was him, it always had to be him. He watched her in her weakest moment. 

He put a hand on her shoulder, but she tensed. “Don’t touch me.”

He moved his hand just like she had asked, before reassuring her, “It’s okay. You’re okay. I don’t know what’s going on, but you'll be okay.” His voice was gentle, too gentle for someone she didn’t like. Nope—hated. 

Her words came out pulsing with anger. “How can you say that? You don’t have any idea of what I’ve gone through.”

Percy visibly swallowed. “I know, I know what it’s like to go through hard things. Try me.”

“You really want to know? My mom is dead! I watched her die! Whatever that stupid song was, I heard it when she was dying, okay? Leave me alone now.”

He had a strange look on his face. A look of guilt. “Oh. How’d you hear the song when your mom was dying?”

Annabeth didn’t want to answer, and she almost didn’t. She didn’t owe him anything. But she did, for some reason that was beyond her knowledge. “My aunt.”

He furrowed his eyebrows. “Who’s your aunt?”

“Elsa. Former queen of Arendelle.”

“Oh. I never heard about Anna dying.”

She shrugged. “It was kept quiet. Most think she’s just sick. My father rules in her place. It was never announced, and only a few people were told.”

She didn’t know why she was continuing. She never should have told him any of it, but it felt like she couldn’t stop, like she had to finish at this point. 

Percy looked to be deep in his thoughts, so it surprised her when he said, “It’s crazy how that was able to be kept from the media.”

Annabeth nodded. She didn’t feel so much like crying now. She felt stable, like she was walking on dry land again. 

Percy whispered, “You don’t have to tell me, but what exactly happened?”

Her stomach was swirling unpleasantly, but she needed to continue. “Aunt El was acting weird. She sang the song, even though she never needed to sing before. When she showed the snow, it landed on my mom and killed her.”

His eyes were dark, his face rigid. “Your aunt used a siren song.”

“A siren song?” 

“Yes. She must have found out about a siren song, but not know what it was. When more than one kind of magic mix, bad things happen.”

“How do you know that?” 

He didn’t answer. Annabeth realized with a start that she had leaned in close to him, and they were basically hugging. She pulled away as quickly as she could. 

A moment of horror darted through her as she realized how he must know. “You’re the son of Ursula. I heard you tell Leo.” Ursula was said to have had siren powers before she lost them as a punishment from the god of the sea. But that didn’t mean Percy couldn’t have them!

Percy had the powers of a siren! He had been the one to sing the song, to bring her back to her grief, to humiliate her. 

She had just watched her mom die! Even if it wasn’t the first time, it was a memory so vivid it felt real. It might as well have been. And it was all Percy’s fault. Without him, she would never have had to relive the memory again. She could have just forgotten it. 

Percy started to say something, but Annabeth didn’t let him finish. She went to the bathroom to wipe away any trace of her tears. 

She could hardly believe that she had started to cry in front of Percy. At school too! How many people had seen her? Regardless of how many, it was too much. No one should have ever seen her crying, and at least one person(ish) did.

Annabeth ran water over her face, desperate to make the obvious red go away. Red skin like her mothers, but this from crying, not cursed snow. 

She had learned of what truly happened by her worst enemy. Well, her best enemy. He was pretty good at being an enemy, but that wasn’t the point. 

She had just learned what caused the biggest change in her life, what had caused her to be shipped off from home, what had caused her to lose her favorite person. 

And Percy knew. He had seen the whole thing, watched her have a melt-down over the song, watched her find out about how Mom had died. The thought was excruciating that he had made it to such a deep part of her, even if by accident. 

She breathed in deeply, looking in the mirror to check her reflection. Her make-up was completely ruined. Half washed off from her tears and the water. She didn’t wear much, but it was still noticeable. 

Somehow she had managed to stay out of notice so far. Very few people had come in, and those that had didn’t come to the sink that was at the other end of the bathroom. (It was a large bathroom.) 

Annabeth didn’t really have anything she could do other than wipe away the rest of her make-up to even it out. The rest of her stuff was back in her dorm. She grabbed a paper towel and tried her best to get it off. 

When she was done, her face still looked red. But a normal face red, not a crying red. She would be able to make it until she went back to her dorm.

She grabbed her pile of things from the floor. The piece of paper from earlier fell out of her book. She picked it up. Oh, it was a letter from Sincerely Yours. This time he had added a beautiful blue rose drawn across the side. He was pretty good at it too. 

Annabeth,

Ah, it’s me again. Neat, huh? I thought you ought to know your wisdom knows no boundaries, and continues to amaze me every time I hear your voice. Your beauty eludes me, in a way that I can barely comprehend is real. I’m an idiot, and quite ugly, so there’s little chance you might like me back, but it never hurts to try, right?   Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all? I’ll give you a hint, they’re funny and also quite tall. Oh, what was that? It’s me! Just kidding—it’s 100% you(; I’m a close second though, I hope. Oh wait—I’m ugly. Never mind that then. I wish you the best of days, only the best for a princess after all. I would like to warn you, before you fall from heaven when you fall for me (; that I am perhaps crazy. I love blueberries, maybe a little too much. You’ll have some competition. When I said I am crazy, I didn’t mean it, of course. Just kidding, I meant it. 

Sincerely, 

         Yours

She smiled, a small smile, but a smile nonetheless. Sincerely Yours was funny. He didn’t sound like how she had first imagined him. He had called her wise. Not smart, wise. That felt extra touching for some reason. 

Sincerely Yours was only a few words so far, not a real person, but Annabeth still thought he seemed cute. The dork used a winky face twice, but it somehow just made it cuter. 

Annabeth folded the letter, putting it back in her book, and hurried back to her dorm. She cleaned up a little bit, changed her clothes, and fixed her blotchy face. But she couldn’t get the letter of her mind. 

It felt different this time. She wasn’t surprised and was excited when she found out what it was. The mystery was that much closer to coming true! 

Her bad memories still lurked in her mind, but she had an easy excuse to distract herself from them, even if it did make her feel silly. 

Whoever Sincerely Yours was, she was thankful for him. Twice now, his sweet letters had been a distraction from that which is life. She had been determined to find him before, but that was nothing compared to how much she wanted to find him now. 

Even if he wasn’t a prince, even if he wasn’t perfect, Annabeth could see herself liking him in real life. Actually, dating someone for the first time in her sixteen years. The thought was scary, but also not at the same time. 

Maybe she was ready. 

Chapter Text

Percy couldn’t hide the guilt he felt. He had done it. It was his fault. Because of him, Annabeth had fallen to the ground, sobbing. And it was his fault.

If Annabeth had hated him before, he wondered how bad it was now. He never should have sung the song. Nothing good ever came out of that. 

She appeared so vulnerable at that moment that he came to her. Everything about her looked raw . 

He closed his eyes, letting the darkness it brought distract him. He was a villain, and villains were bad. He was bad, so he shouldn’t regret it. But he did. The look of pure pain on Annabeth’s face was not worth it. He couldn’t imagine anything like that would be worth it. 

When he opened his eyes, the walls around him felt suffocating. He needed to get away. 

But…he was on severe lockdown. He had only managed to distract them because of his siren song. That would not make him forget he was in trouble, even if it erased all that happened today.

Percy was struck with an interesting thought. Annabeth had not been affected by it. Well, she definitely had, but not the same way as everybody else. She clearly knew and registered it was him. Maybe it was delayed for her? 

Whatever, he thought. It was taking up too much brain space to try to figure it out. 

He decided to just go back to his dorm. That way he could have freedom for a few hours without risking getting in trouble. Ugh, that made him sound so lame. He probably wouldn’t get in trouble anyway. But he was tired, so he kinda had a somewhat valid reason not to spread more mischief. 

No. He would go back to his dorm, and he would do it because he could. Nobody was the boss of him and he could do whatever he wanted. Ha!

On his way back, he bumped into a boy. Actually, never mind. He bumped into a donkey/human thing. 

The donkey human as Percy mentally declared him had brown eyes that were wider than the sun is bright. “So sorry, I am so sorry. Sorry. You, um, I am sorry.”

“Aw, the little donkey human said sorry four times in a row. You realize sorry is not necessary even once, right? It makes you seem weak.”

The person donkey made a strange sound. “Who are you calling a donkey?” He probably meant it to be fierce, but his voice came out shaky and squeaky. 

Percy laughed rudely. “You. Who else do you think I’d be talking about, donkey boy?”

The donkey human made the sound again. “I am not a donkey boy. I am half goat, thank you very much. The correct term would also be satyr. But my name is Grover.”

Percy nodded. “And my name’s Percy. I think I’m going to like you, even if you have a lot to work on.”

Grover frowned. “What do I have to work on?”

Percy put his arm over him. “A lot.”

“But you already said that. What in particular?”

“That’s for me to know and you to find out.” 

Grover looked flustered, like he was trying to figure out what to say. 

A voice came from behind him. “Ah, I think Grover here should go. Now.”

Percy held back a groan. He knew that voice. Grover started to run away, but he held him back. “Don’t leave. She can’t tell you want to do.”

Grover basically whimpered. “Who’s she?”

Thalia grinned. “Now, now, don’t talk about me like I’m not here. Thalia’s the name.”

“Go away, Thalia,” Percy said.

She shook her head. “If I can’t tell your new friend to go, why should you be able to do so to me?”

Grover said nervously. “I do think I should go. Maybe I can talk to you later, Percy?” 

He asked it like a question, even though it was more of a statement kind of phrase, so Percy answered like it was one. “Sure.”

Grover had a smile that looked exceptionally strange on his face, like he was more in pain than anything else. “Bye.”

Percy gave a little wave. “Bye.”

Thalia kicked his ankle. “Did the little sea urchin finally make a friend? I’m so proud of you.”

He winced, but didn’t say anything. Didn’t cry out. He couldn’t show the pain. But she still knew. He knew that she knew, and she knew that he knew that she knew. 

They had an understanding going on between them, like they always did. 

He forced a smirk. “I know, right? We must be on the same wave -length.”

Thalia did not seem amused, but she laughed mockingly. “You are so cute. Too bad your big sister isn’t here to protect you.”

Percy felt the anger that he knew was showing. He felt it like a current trying to drag him under. “I don’t need Uma’s protection. I have always been able to protect myself.”

She gave him a condescending look. “Have you really? Always must not be as long as I thought, because last I knew you were weaker than Auradon royalty.”

He clenched his fists by his side. “Oh, I believe it is you that is the weak one. You say I always depend on Uma, but what about Clarisse? Ring any bells?”

Now it was her turn to have anger written across her face. “That was a long time ago. Now I do all my work myself.”

“Took you long enough. Maybe that gave you time to be competent. After all, what fun would it be utterly defeating someone who is incompetent . Are you ready, Miss Dependant?”

It was too easy. Thalia clenched her teeth so hard he could see a muscle move in her jaw. She grabbed him by the ear, and dragged him outside. 

“You’re going to pay for this. For everything. You’ve always been weak, and you know it.” Her voice was dangerously low. 

He chose to simply smile again. He grew up in the Isle, so had plenty of experience on how to make someone from there tick. 

The resulting smack that came brought a horrendous clapping sound. When her hand separated from his face, he felt for blood. He didn’t feel any, but his face felt warm, and it would surely leave a mark. 

Percy felt off balance, the world spinning like a hurricane. He was going to vomit based on the rising sense of nausea piling in his stomach. 

She had kicked him again too, but he didn’t remember when. After the smack? He didn’t know, but she had kicked him in the stomach. That was probably why he was on the ground. Oh, he hadn’t realized he was on the ground. 

Instinctively, he had curled up in a ball to protect himself from the worst of the blows. He felt weak, so very weak. He was the wimp, no matter how much he tried to deny it. He was nothing. 

He needed to get up. He couldn’t let her win. When he tried to speak, words wouldn’t come out of him.

Come on , he thought. You know better. You can get up . He managed to get out, “Get up.”

A cruel smile was on Thalia’s face, one he wished desperately that he could wipe away. She should be fearing him, not the other way around. 

Uma would be disappointed if she saw him lying on the ground, letting Thalia attack him. That gave him the extra push to force himself up. He didn’t know what was going on much anymore. How many times had she hit him? She was strong, stronger than he had though. 

He had messed up, tried to goad her into getting mad so they could fight. He had previously had a strategy, but it wasn’t a memory of his anymore. It was out of his grasp. 

Percy managed to roll over, so he was on his stomach. Now, to push himself up. He tried to go on his arms, but they crumbled underneath him. No, he had to get up. He couldn’t just stop. 

He used his hands again, this time even more determined. He managed to stagger his way to his feet. Thalia was still there, ready to just hurt him more. 

His fist swung drearily, with barely a thought of what he was doing. He just missed her face when he realized. “No,” he whispered, the words barely making it past his throat.

Thalia slowed down when she realized his reluctance. “Oh, I forgot the little boy was afraid of fighting.”

Based on the way his fingers were itching to punch, he was not afraid. Or maybe he was. Whatever the case, he would not physically harm another person. No matter how infuriating they were.

Everything looked funny, he noticed. Oddly bright. Thalia’s hair looked so funny to him all the sudden. She looked like Cruella de Vil with her half black, half white hair, although she only had a few strands of dyed hair in the front. 

She had freckles. Little dots on her face. How funny was that? They looked fine, but the concept was strange. Carlos had freckles too. Maybe they were secretly siblings, although they at least had different moms. Maybe they had the same dad. That would explain their same colored hair and freckles. Wait, that didn’t make sense. Why didn’t it make sense?

His thoughts were becoming like they had earlier. The brief moment of clarity was replaced by slow thoughts that didn’t make sense. 

Thalia was speaking, but Percy couldn’t hear her. He could see the smile on her face, the evil gleam in her eyes, but he couldn’t hear a thing. 

“I need to go,” Percy tried to say. He didn’t know if the words came out right, but that’s what he tried to say. That was what he tried to say, right? Maybe not. But he did. Needed to go. Where did he need to go? Oh, Thalia was twisting his arm. That’s why he needed to go, although it still didn’t explain where he needed to go. 

Why was she twisting his arm? It was Thalia. She hated him. That’s why. But did she hate him? Yes, he decided. She did hate him. It didn’t hurt. No, it hurt, he could tell that. But it didn’t feel painful, even if it hurt. That made sense, probably. Or maybe it didn’t.  

“Stop,” he said. He was tired, so very tired. She has powers, she’s the daughter of a witch. She was doing something to him. Or maybe it was just that she kept on hurting him. Why was she trying to hurt him exactly? She hated him. Yes, she hated him. That’s why. 

But hurting was wrong. He didn’t care when things were wrong, though, right? Wrong was bad, and bad was delicious. Maybe. Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn’t. What was he doing again? He should be doing something, but instead he was here. And so very dizzy. 

He was falling, falling, falling into a place of no return. Where was the place of no return? He didn’t know. Maybe he was just normal falling. Or was he falling at all? Maybe it just felt like he was falling. 

Maybe, maybe, maybe. That was a silly word. Percy heard himself laugh, although he didn’t feel like he was. But it was funny. What was funny? Oh, yeah. Maybe was funny. He said it out loud. “May. Be. Maybe. What may you be that you have a maybe?” 

Did he actually speak? He wasn't able to speak right now. So he couldn’t have. Unless he did. He was. 

Something was hurting somewhere, no, everywhere. Everywhere hurt and he didn’t remember what. Why, not what. He didn’t remember why. 

He thought he was falling, just like he had thought he was falling before. But now he was falling faster. So fast, but not fast enough. Time was stopped, but it was still moving. He didn’t know how, but that’s just what it was. Nothing made sense anymore. 

Thalia had left him, she must have, because she was gone. That was all that he remembered; it was gone now. No more pain, just a warm feeling as he fell, spinning the entire time it felt, into a sleep that he was sure he would never return from. 

Percy woke up. His head hurt, and he didn’t know what was going on. Or where he was. It came all too soon. Thalia was beating him up. He felt his cheeks go red by the thought. He had lost to her so easily. It didn’t help that he refused to fight back, but it was what it was. 

He vowed to himself that no one else would find out about this. He was used to hiding bruises. 

The feel of the stiff grass below him let him know that he was still outside. But it was enough out of view that no one saw him hopefully. All would be alright, because nobody would find out about it. 

Chapter Text

Annabeth,

I’m running out of things to say, but I’ll try anyway. Oh, hey, that rhymed! I’m just such a genius, I know. So… I fall for you more everyday. I wish I was brave enough to just tell you who I am. There’s always a possibility that you might like me, even if I am just me. I wish for so many things right now. I wish to see your lovely smile. I wish to see you focused like I so often do, but to my great sorrow, all I have are the sweet memories. I wish to watch the stars by your side. And I wish most of all that I could tell you who I am. I’m afraid that I’ve run out of things to say for now, so I’ll bid you adieu. 

Sincerely,

         Yours

Well, Sincerely Yours was such a dork. That was obvious. Maybe he was just a shy nerd. She could handle a nerd. Nerds were cute. To be honest, she would probably be considered a nerd, so she had no place to judge. 

He was also a flirt, and as much as she hated to admit it, she kind of liked it. A lot. But she would never, never let him find out about it once she found him. 

Ugh, how did she know him? Obviously they went to school together, so they were classmates, but did she actually know him or were they all but strangers? 

Was he somebody she knew? He seemed to know her, but that might just be from afar. Wait, what if it was from Leo? He was a flirt. He could very well like her. But she didn’t like him that way. What if she didn’t like Sincerely Yours?

She hoped that she would. For some reason she didn’t think it was Leo. It wasn’t written in Leo’s voice. Unless that he was a lot different than she had initially thought, it couldn’t be him. 

She wished to know who he was too. He was definitely not the only one wishing for such thing. But she didn’t understand why he didn’t just tell her. Who would he have to be that she wouldn’t even consider him?

Annabeth, 

I’ve never been one for poetry, but I can try to write somewhat poetic-y. Even if I am awfully bad at it. Your eyes are silver, like steel to show how strong you are, but most of all, silver like a mirror, showing how much you really are, how much you try. Your hair is golden in a stark contrast, falling in perfect coils that never cease to amaze me. You are beautiful beyond comparison. But your beauty is only the beginning. I’ll say it again, you are brilliant, wise, smart, anything of that sort that could possibly be named. You are like a diamond, so beautiful and hard to crack. I’ve compared you to silver, gold, and diamond, but I hope you know they barely describe your worth. You are everything and more. 

                                            Sincerely,

                                                      Yours

Annabeth smiled. Her smile was so wide that her cheeks would probably be sore later. Poetic-y? That was such a silly thing to say, but she shouldn’t have been surprised. Sincerely Yours was definitely silly. So far she knew he was silly, probably shy, a flirt, and what else? She didn’t know, but she would find out. 

He liked her hair and her eyes. Why? She hated them. Yellow was not a pretty color, and that’s basically what blonde looks like. He had called them golden. Was that better than gold? 

The stark contrast as he called it between her ‘silver eyes’ and ‘golden hair’ drove her nuts. They just looked plain out bad together. Her eyes looked colorless, they were colorless. 

Was it wrong that it filled her with a warm sort of joy when he called her smart or wise or brilliant? She hoped not, because that’s what happened. 

She would repay him for all this later. One day, she’d be the one to compliment him. To tell him all the wonderful things about him. One day. 

Annabeth, 

You

Are

So 

Beautiful.

It takes my breath away. Every moment that I see you in class, I really can hardly breathe. As I told you before, I wish for so many things. Well, to add to the list, I wish you could know just how drop dead gorgeous you are. I swear, I’ll probably actually just drop dead from your beauty one of these days. It really serves to prove how I’ll never be worthy of you. Can I tell you a secret? 

… I am starting to love you. 

                         Sincerely, 

                                  Yours

His letter was indescribable to Annabeth. The way it felt to read such things. He really thought she was beautiful. Unless it was all a prank. She hoped, a hope so deep it hurt, that he was not lying. 

Because something was happening to her, and she didn’t know what. Maybe she just liked the attention. But there was something about the voice of the letters that it felt like she was beginning to need . 

Why did he keep on telling he she was pretty? Again and again, he said the same. Why? She was not pretty, and he had to have known that. Maybe she wasn’t ugly, but her features were nothing special. And most certainly not ‘drop dead gorgeous.’ He shouldn’t keep on saying that. She was as pretty as she needed to be, and that was it. 

He was creative. That was something she could add to her running list of things she knew about him. Something about the letters gave her the suspicion that he was creative. Something about him. He just had to be.  

She had all of his letters to her hidden inside her dresser. They were folded neatly at the bottom of her top drawer. 

He said he was falling in love with her. But she had a secret too. Only five letters and she could say the exact same about him. 

Annabeth,  

Every moment with you, every moment that I see you, that I talk to you, it all plays in my mind over and over until I can think of nothing else. The feelings I feel for you play like music through my mind, dancing faster and faster in a whirlwind that feels like it will never stop. Each day, I find myself falling deeper and deeper. I’m falling so deep, there will surely be no return. I will fall so deep, I am falling so deep, that without you I’d never stand again. After knowing what life is like with you, I’m not sure I could go without. Oh, and by the way, you smell good. Like flowers. It’s as if you spend hours in the first, hours walking around. But of course, no flower could possibly even begin to compare to you. 

                            Sincerely, 

                                      Yours

How was he like this? How could he say such things? The answer was clear. It was because his identity was hidden. Annabeth had no such chance. He already knew who she was. There was no clean slate option for her. Whoever he was, he could see just how she was, which might have been the scariest thing of all. 

How often did he see her? No, that was obvious. She should know better. They went to the same school. Did they share any classes together? She probably knew him! 

Why was this so frustrating? Almost every letter she saved to read in her room, and when she did she usually had to hold back a scream or something. He should just tell her already. At this point it was just plain out annoying. 

Ugh, why did he have to be so good at this? How was she supposed to deal with someone telling her exactly how much they are falling for her? She had other things to focus on, but lately that was all that she could think about. 

Stupid boy. 

Annabeth, 

Roses are red, violets are blue, I think that poetry is nice, but it’s better to just be straight with you. I think it’s quite obvious, but I’ll say it anyway. I have quite the crush on a girl. 

Annabeth bit her lip. A twinge of jealousy passed through her. At least that was until she read the next part.

You know the girl, very well I might add. That’s because she is you. Wow, who would have thought? Especially when I’m writing a whole stinking love letter to you! How many has it been so far? Like seven maybe? 

And now she felt stupid. 

Your eyes sparkle brighter than the time I accidentally tasered myself(don’t ask). If you’re curious as to who wrote this letter and all the ones before, just find the blushing boy who can’t take his eyes off you. 

                                                  Sincerely, 

                                                          Yours

How does someone possibly taser themself? She could definitely add stupid to her list. Could stupid still be cute? Somehow she thought it could, based on the letter.

How many letters had it been? Seven or eight maybe? She checked. Seven was right. 

Would he really be blushing, though? Annabeth had looked, she really had, but there was no sign of any boys staring at her any time she tried to find them. She didn't want to believe that it was fake, but how could it not be? 

Annabeth, 

How many more times I could possibly find myself lost in thoughts of you? That question must be answerable because I find it's happening again, again and again. Is it really possible to be able to think so much about only one person? I feel a loss for the amount of words it would take to even begin to describe how much I really feel for you. Keep on repeating myself, but what else is there to say? How many times can I tell you I love you? But I'll say it as many times as I want, because it's the truest thing in my life right now. I'm afraid I might be starting to get attached to the idea of you possibly liking me back, even if there's little chance of it ever happening. But I'm hopeful, I have hope that it could happen. And maybe if not we could still be friends. Even if you don't feel the same way, a friendship with you would be worth more than everything else wonderful in the world combined. 

                                                         Sincerely, 

                                                                   Yours

There was no way he could actually be serious. How could Sincerely Yours be thinking of her so much or even at all? She still didn’t understand why he liked her, or, as he claimed, loved her.

It's definitely possible to think so much about one person, she thought. There was no other way she could be thinking about him so much. And she still had no idea who he was. The only thing she had of him was scraps of paper, and little bits of gathered information. 

He could tell her he loved her as many times as he wanted, but that didn't mean she could ever believe him. That didn't stop her from letting a little bit of her hope that he could actually mean it, though.

The fact that he loved her was the truest thing in his life right now? How? They couldn't know each other very well. But he said he loved her. Surely, if he did he’d have to know her. 

The desire to know who he was was getting continuously larger. She had to know. It wasn’t even a mystery that she couldn’t stand not knowing, it was something bigger, something indescribable. 

Annabeth, 

The love I feel for you is vast and deep, with new constellations of feelings forming at every moment. Deeper and deeper with every shared moment, every smile of yours, and every time I let out a breath. And considering there are 17,000 times every day that I let out a breath on average, that it will only start to drown me before I know it. I may barely know you, and you may barely know me (really, you don't know me at all) but your presence in my life is not just significant, it is something I need to live. I don't think that I could possibly describe it. You are my son, my moon, and all my stars. Without you, I would have no warmth, no light, and no beauty because you bring all of it into my life. Your presence brings color to my world bringing joy that I never thought I could possibly experience. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. You are everything, and it seems you always will be. 

                                               Sincerely, 

                                                        Yours

How was this so poetic? Sincerely Yours and not seems so poetic before. What had changed now? But seriously, ‘The love I feel for you is vast and deep, with new constellations of feelings forming at every moment , ’ and ‘Deeper and deeper with every shared moment, every smile of yours, and every time I let out of breath,’ were so poetic. So, so poetic and she was in awe of it.

This was not helping her to not fall in love with him. She almost just didn’t care anymore. Maybe she should just let herself love him. Even if she had absolutely no idea who he was…

Also, how in the world did he know that a person breathed out 70,000 times? That was such a random thing to know. He was so using the Internet. Cheater.

Annabeth, 

Every whisper of the wind, it seems to carry your name, a delicate reminder of the love I feel for you, one forever present that will never leave me. You may not know me, but I know you. And I think if you looked closer, you’d realize I’m right in front of you. I've mentioned wishes perhaps a few times.So I wanted to say that in you, I've found my wish come true. You are everything I could possibly wish for and more. You just existing is like a dream come true. Now, onto a less poetic part of the note. You deserve a clue or two, I think. I don’t know if I’ve already mentioned, but I’m sixteen years old and I am what most would consider average. Now you on the other hand, could not possibly be described as average. You are surely the most incredible human to ever exist. I'm a little biased, but too bad. Deal with it. 

P.S. This is your tenth letter. Yay!

                                 Sincerely,

                                         Yours

She. Was. Doomed. 

How could he say these kinds of things like they meant nothing? They meant everything. Even if it wasn't like to him like it was to her, those were still some meaningful words. He couldn’t deny that.

How could he possibly say that she could find him if she looked at her? Did he know how hard she was looking? Tried everywhere. Annabeth had done extensive research on all the students. She had even tried to sneak out school records. Which was against the rules. She broke the rules in a desperate attempt to find him!

He was 16 years old, so that could definitely narrow down a lot of people. It for sure wasn't Leo then, because Leo was younger than sixteen. 

How is calling himself average a clue? That did not count as a clue. 

He called her the most incredible human to ever exist. Did he not realize that he couldn’t just say such things? It was going to make her dizzy, the amount of compliments he gave. 

Also, ten letters already? How? It had been two months since this started, she realized. Sincerely Yours was going to be the death of her. 

Chapter Text

It was becoming quite the fun thing for Percy to sneak letters into Annabeth’s locker. Once he even caught her opening one and her reaction was priceless. He couldn't wait until she found out that it was him. 

That was a wide grin on her face when she saw the letter fall from her locker. She didn't even bother waiting to go back to her dorm to read it. Instead, she chose to read it right there in front of everybody, her expression available for any eyes. 

It was his sixth letter he believed. He was particularly proud of that one. He had spent over an hour trying to come up with something poetic and beautiful to say.

Boy, he was really getting involved with this. The deed was starting to weigh on him. What if it actually hurt Annabeth? Not just a joke, but like, actually. Maybe the joke wouldn't be so funny then.

No, he told himself. It would be funny regardless. Besides, she deserved anything she got. She was the one that… okay, fine, he pranked her first. Whatever.

But still. With the way that she seemed to think she was better than everyone, she needed some humbling. Percy knew from experience from his very own sister that a good leader or a good friend or a good whatever was not so good when they thought they were the absolute best. 

From what he knew about Annabeth, she was entitled as it got. Princesses were all jerks, in his opinion. Probably because of how they were raised.

And yes, and she had her whole sob story thing, which was sad, but that didn’t change that people treated her differently. 

It didn't help. His opinion that Annabeth was holding a major grudge against him for something that wasn't even his own fault. He seemed to remember being her best friend that suggested they sneak out. But hey, maybe he was remembering wrong. As if. 

Speaking of her best friend, He was starting to become friends with Rachel. It was nice that he wasn't being completely hated by all the Auradon kids. Really. Annabeth was the only one treating him differently at this point. Frank seemed a little upset for a little while, but now was back to being happy to hang out with him. 

Rachel was the only one of his new friends who seemed to like physical attention. The others might have given them fist bumps or high fives or whatever. None specifically avoided touch, but Rachel seemed particularly fond of giving him hugs and grabbing his hand. 

There was even one time where she suggested they snuck out again. Percy was aching for some rebellion, so he agreed, and she kissed his cheek. But that was the thing friends did, so whatever. Although Jason and Leo were definitely not kissing his cheek. Just saying.

It was confirmed to him that that was not a thing that ‘friends’ did when she confessed to him her undying love. (An exaggeration, but too bad.)

She walked up to him nervously, delicately placing her hand on top of his. “Percy, I have something I've not told you yet. I've wanted to tell it to you for a while, but I haven't. And I'm gonna say now.”

Well, that was weird. But he said, “Okay.”

So she announced in front of everybody, “I have a really, really, really, really, really big crush on you. And I was hoping we could go on a date. Together.”

Oh. Oh. Um, he had no idea what to say to that. Dating was not a thing on the Isle. Also, did he like her like that? Her. She was pretty, and she had a wonderful personality, and she liked him, but did he like her ? 

But everybody was watching, not giving him much time to think it over. He thought she wasn't that bad and maybe he could like her and maybe he did like her, so he said, “Sure.” 

She looked absolutely delighted as she actually squealed and wrapped him up in a bone crushing hug. All he could think was that he was doomed.

Percy was trying to do the whole love letter prank thing to Annabeth, but typically he did not agree with adding romance to pranks. Yes, this was not a prank, but it still felt like he was leading her on, which was honestly just as bad. 

But he liked bad, he thought tiredly. Was bad really so great, though? He was starting to think maybe not. 

And so continuing. Annabeth avoided him as usual, and there were only a few days away from his very first official date ever. Great. 

In class he found himself continuously thinking of what he should add in his next love letter. Why was it just so fun? It also kind of made him feel good to compliment someone even if it was a prank.

Something happened when he put his next love letter in Annabeth’s locker. It was just a simple one.

Annabeth, 

Felt in the chest and given away, I can be broken but never stray. What am I? The answer of course is mine unto you. 

Sincerely,

          Yours

All that was in this letter was a simple riddle about a heart. A heart he said he'd give to her. She was smart enough that she could get that. He may not like her, but he could give her that. 

The thing that happened when he snuck the letter into her locker was not anything small like the letter. 

No, what happened was that he realized he was regretting the entire thing. Yes, he loved it, thought it fun, and was absolutely delighted in it.  He could even go as far as to say that it was the best part of his day when you go to letter. But he hated that he was doing this to somebody, even if she was a total brat.

Great time to gain a conscience, eleven letters in. Why was life so miserable? He had to ruin everything. He could have just put whipped cream in her pillowcase, could have snuck dead rats in her shoes. But no, he decided to mess with a person’s emotions. Ew. 

Maybe he was actually doing a good job because she was smiling more, acting happier, but avoiding him all the same. The deepest darkest part of his mind, he was starting to hate himself. Maybe he wasn’t cut out to be a villain. Maybe. Maybe not.

“So, I realized that we actually didn’t clarify where we are going, so where do you want to go?” Rachel asked him the moment they got out of class.

“Uh, I don’t really know the layout here. If we were in the Isle, I’d say Smee’s Cabin for a first date, you know, something casual. But it’s fun.” 

Perks of not growing up here? Not having to be the one to choose. Rachel would just say that she didn’t care, but if he picked wrong, she wouldn’t say anything but silently be disappointed the whole time. He had sisters, he knew the basic girlology. 

But he had a solution. Give her a basic idea of what he wanted, so that she wouldn’t think she had to pick, whilst still having the freedom to pick, and she wouldn’t be upset. He mentally high fived himself. 

Rachel smiled a smile that looked practiced. (Percy wasn't actually sure if it was practiced or not, because Uma would never try to smile to impress any boys.) 

“We should go to Tiana’s Bakery. She doesn’t actually run it, but it’s named after her because she was the one to start it originally. It’s pretty casual , at least in my opinion. Oh, and we can get donuts and either hot chocolate or coffee, then take it to the park.”

Ha! Ha! He had been right! And that didn’t sound too bad. “When are we going?”

“Right now!” she said. 

“Um. Like actually right now?” Percy asked. 

She blushed. “Oh, I don’t know. I was just thinking–never mind. We can go on Saturday.”

He’d made her feel bad. How to fix that? “No, we can go now. I was just surprised. Let’s go.”

Her smile came back, but this time looking more normal and natural. “Okay. Let’s go,” she repeated. 

A brief awkward silence passed. Percy thought with slight satisfaction that even if he wasn’t great at dates and dating, Rachel didn’t seem so experienced either. He wasn’t coming in completely unknowing what it was like, though. He had his ex, Calypso. Dating was just different back in the Isle. 

Rachel was the first to break the silence. “Okay,” she said, clapping her arms together. “I think that right now is right now, so maybe we should go?” 

He forced a laugh. “Yeah, we should.”

She slipped her hand into his, leading the way to the vast wonder that is outdoors. Percy tried to not outwardly show his discomfort, but he worried that he did. 

The awkwardness soon vanished when they decided to race each other away. Lob and Barry saw them running and started to chase after them. That’s when things became fun. 

Rachel was wearing a dress and heels, so she couldn’t keep up as fast, but she took off her shoes, which ended up fixing it. 

We were both laughing when we completely ran out the guards. Percy choked out between laughs, “The heels, though. I bet I could have run in them.”

She gave him a disbelieving stare. “Could not.”

“Go ahead and try me.”

“How?”

“I dunno. What size are your shoes?”

They compared shoe size, and he could definitely not try on hers. Her feet were not super tiny, and not that tiny in general, but smaller than his. 

Rachel suggested, “Why don’t we stop at a shoe store real quick?”

“Sure.” That’s how they ended up at Ralph’s Shoe Store. Rachel was very insistent on the size being the same length as hers to make it fair. 

Rachel bought the shoes for him, and he put them on. He thought he did very well for his first time in heels. He was able to walk like a pirate on his ship. Perhaps it was just that he was used to being on wobbly grounds. 

The problem was when he started to run in them. Rachel told him to run the lengths of an empty lot they found. He started to run, and found it surprisingly easy. Sure it hurt like fire, and maybe not actually easy per se, but he was doing it!

He made it halfway through the short lot, and then tripped. At first it was just his ankle falling to the side (which was very painful) but when he tried to save himself from falling, he just prolonged his doom. He liked to pretend he didn’t get embarrassed easily, but even if that was true, the fall was so epically embarrassing that it could make even the most likely person to not be embarrassed become embarrassed. 

Rachel started to laugh but covered her mouth to hide it. She ran over to him. “Are you okay?”

He grinned a grin that was hard to grin. “Yup!” Nope! He was pretty sure he had broken his ankle. 

When he stood up, he managed to hide his pain, but his suspicions were confirmed. Well, he didn’t seem to have broken it, but it was definitely sprained. 

He also had blood on his knees and hands from his fall, which clashed with his blue. Ew, red was so ugly. 

Rachel looked concerned, but they still went on with their date. He would not tell her. He was used to experiencing silent pain. Like before, perks of living on the Isle. 

His ankle was throbbing when they finished their date. He could barely focus on the date itself. But he was able to hide it, hide the pain that made him feel like he was going to pass out, that brought black spots to his vision. Only his experience saved him. 

He now had a whole new sympathy for girls, although he didn’t understand why they needed to wear the dreaded things. 

Aside from the whole sprained ankle thing, he had a pretty good time. He still didn’t know that he felt romantic feelings for Rachel, but he had fun nonetheless. 

Chapter Text

Sincerely Yours, 

I haven't been able to think of anything but your letters lately. I don't have a clue as to why. You’ve really been getting in my head. Yet, I still have no idea what your name is. I don't know what you look like. I don't know what your favorite color is. To be honest, I don't know if I would like you or hate you. I don't know if this is weird to say or not, but I kind of would prefer the latter. I'm not really ready to love anybody. I mean like, I meant like. I'm not ready to like anybody. I wish the very least I can meet you, so I thought we could be friends. I could really use a new friend. It's kind of embarrassing to admit, but I have lost my best friend recently. There was this whole thing that happened where I got in trouble, but I'm not going to burden you with that. I so desperately wish I could know who you are. Oh, and the answer to your Riddle is heart, of course. I think. No, I know. Yes. 

                              ~ Annabeth

Annabeth crumbled up the completely self-indulgent letter that she had written on a piece of paper for fun. She didn't know how she could possibly communicate with Sincerely Yours, but she would love to get something across to him, even if it was just something tiny. 

She couldn’t place exactly how it had happened, but now she was back to sitting at Rachel’s table during lunch time. And Percy and Rachel seemed to be officially dating now, so she was also sitting with Percy. And Piper, Leo, Jason, and Frank.

Everybody that had gone to the smoothie shop were now sitting at the same table, and it would be a miracle if something horrible did not happen again. 

She started to become friends with Piper. And she didn't even care that she was from the Isle. It was like something inside her had been switched like a light switch. She was still wary of them, but she was genuinely enjoying Piper’s company and growing to accept her for the way she was. 

It was scaring her how easy it was to change her perspective. What was happening to her? She was straying so far from her belief that they shouldn’t mingle with villains. 

She needed wanted to know who Sincerely Yours was because she was somehow starting to fall for him for research purposes.

It would be so much easier if she could know who she was starting to fall for. She couldn’t even deny it anymore. Ignoring it wouldn’t make it go away. So far, it had only made it worse. 

It was so stupid. 

What was wrong with her? Why was she starting to like a boy that she might never have met before? She didn’t know who he was, or why he was doing it. He could very easily be lying about it all. 

Every time that thoughts like that came into her mind, thoughts that she might like Sincerely Yours she forced herself to do 30 push-ups in an attempt to punish herself. When she was just in her dorm, of course. 

Maybe it was a weird thing to do, but it was what she had to do to get herself to focus. It also helped her to study, when she made herself study in an attempt to avoid such thoughts.

Without meaning to, Annabeth found herself getting obsessed with studying. She desperately wanted thoughts of liking somebody unobtainable to go away. So, she was left with a weird defense mechanism.

Rachel seemed to be forgetting her in a way. Not literally, she was just always with Percy.

Every time they sat at the lunch table, Rachel always talked to Percy. Percy would join in another conversation but would stop soon after by Rachel telling him all about something else. 

It was like they were in their own separate bubble, away from everyone else. 

Even in their dorm, Rachel would only talk to Percy about Annabeth. Seriously, Annabeth was starting to worry that Percy had spelled her with a love spell like Mal had to Ben. 

Annabeth couldn’t blame her, though, because she was also oddly invested in her studies. 

There was one day that Piper told Annabeth, “I need you to come here with me. It’s something important.” 

“What for?” Annabeth asked. 

Piper said to her, “You’ll see. Just come.” 

She led Annabeth over to her dorm. It was nice there because Piper didn't have a roommate. So Annabeth and Piper could always just hang out.

Annabeth wondered briefly if Piper was replacing Rachel. Maybe she was. But it didn’t matter because Rachel was replacing her with Percy, so she wasn't the one at fault here. 

Piper told her, “Wait here, I have to grab something real quick.” 

It turned out she wasn’t really getting something. Instead, she came back with someone . Rachel. Oh no , Annabeth thought. Was she going to try to make them make up or something? It wasn't that they weren't friends, they just didn't have time for each other. 

Annabeth was busy with her studies. She wasn't being ditched. She wasn't friendless. She wasn't ignoring everybody. She wasn't falling in love with Sincerely Yours. 

All she was doing was studying because it was important. Oh, and she was also starting to get kind of jacked from all those pushups. Not to brag or anything of course. 

Not that she kept on thinking about Sincerely Yours, making her do so. She wasn't. That wasn't why she was doing the push ups, of course. She just had gotten into the habit, so she kept on doing it. 

Really, she was living her best life. She was getting perfect grades on everything. She got hundreds or above on all her assignments. She was in shape. Everything was going great for her. 

So it really wasn't necessary for Piper to do this. 

Piper said, “You might be wondering why I have had you both come here.” Why did she have to say it like that? 

“Well, I just think you guys have both seemed awfully busy and unhealthily so.” Piper could be so annoying sometimes. Had Annabeth not just made it clear (technically in her head) that she was super healthy right now? 

Piper continued, “Rachel, you may have been kind of obsessed with Percy. I love him, too, of course. He's like my brother. I've known him my entire life. So trust me, he's not worth you spending your every moment with. Live your life while you can. Don't let your life revolve around him.” 

She turned to Annabeth. “You have also been preoccupied with your school. A lot of it. I've noticed you've picked up a few other classes and you're also on a bunch of stuff like you're doing a bunch of sports, and you're on the prom committee, and you're on the yearbook committee, and like a bajillion other things. Like, Girl, you gotta chill.” 

Annabeth wanted to protest, but it was honestly kind of true. Not the part where she needed to chill and that she was doing too much. But it was true that she was doing all this stuff Piper listed. 

She was doing a lot of sports. She was doing fencing, archery, tennis, and other sports she couldn’t think of at the top of her head. 

Also, she was on the prom committee and the yearbook committee and pretty much every committee there was. And just about every club. 

Okay, maybe she was doing too many things, but that wasn't the point. 

She told Piper, “You were just telling Rachel that she needed to live her life. This is me living my life, and I should be able to live my life.” 

“You need to actually live. Like give yourself a break sometimes so that you don't end up running yourself into the ground and drop down dead, okay?” 

Annabeth hated how Piper said that like she was a little kid. She was not. She knew what she was doing, and she had time for it all. And it wasn't a distraction. Okay, maybe it was a little bit of a distraction so she wouldn't think about Sincerely Yours. But it wasn't a big distraction. Just a little bit. 

Huh, about Sincerely Yours, he had been giving her less and less letters recently. The letters weren’t gone, they just weren’t super consistent. It was maybe a letter a month at this point, which was still often, and they were still love letters. 

But she kind of missed it. Although she probably shouldn't have, she did. 

Ugh, she wished she could change it that she missed it. Quite honestly, she wished that she didn’t love Sincerely Yours. 

Why did she love him? Okay, not love him, like him. She liked him. There was a difference. She wasn't ready for love and really, she wasn't ready for like yet. Why did she have to be in love like?

Being in like. That sounded so stupid. Who was she kidding? She had princess blood in her; that seemed to make her fall in love easily. 

Annabeth thought it was a curse. Princesses from the Fairy Tales fall in love easily (at least that was her excuse to make her feel better about it), and that was so disgusting.

In her opinion, a person (or being, to be less specific) should get to know a person before falling in love.

How did she know she was falling in love with the person behind the letters, and not the words themselves. Was she so eager for validation that the moment someone told her she was pretty, she fell head over heels for them?

In just about every aspect of her life, Annabeth was careful in everything she did. She did everything with precision, and triple-checked that everything was perfect.

So for her to have fallen for him felt like she was being hung upside down, because for that to happen, everything would have to be it’s opposite.

“—eth. Annabeth. Are you okay?” Piper’s voice. 

Wow, Annabeth had gotten way lost in thought. How long had she been out of it?

“Yeah, I’m okay. Just thinking?”

“About what?” Piper prodded. “Taking a break from the billion things you’ve been doing?”

“No promises,” Annabeth said.

“ Annabeth . Please.”

“Fine,” Annabeth told her. Absolutely not , Annabeth thought. She had no plans of actually stopping all the stuff. They needed her, and to be honest, she kind of needed them. 

Rachel said, “I have to go now.” 

Piper tried to stop her. “No! I’m not done. You guys have something between you, and you need to resolve it.”

“Actually, we don’t. We just haven’t been hanging out as much because we have our own things,” Annabeth informed her.

Piper put her hands on her hips. “You know I don’t believe you.”

“Well, you should. Because it is. There is nothing wrong between us at all. Right, Rachel?”

Rachel nodded. “Not a thing. We’re good.”

“Still,” said Piper.

“Okay, can you just stop trying to butt into this? You’re just an Isle kid. You don’t know how things happen around here. So just shut up and let us deal with it ourselves.” Shocking, of course. Not from Annabeth, the one extremely against VK’s.

Nope. Rachel. Rachel, one of the sweetest, gentlest people Annabeth knew. She said that. What was her problem? She really had changed.

Annabeth vowed to herself that she wouldn’t act like that anymore. Even if it was true, it was rude, and she was above that. 

Piper swallowed, and looked to be blinking back tears, before her features morphed into something that deeply resembled anger. “Okay, then. Bye, I guess. Hope you have a good life with Percy, you know, the other Isle kid, who supposedly doesn’t know anything, so…” she trailed off with a suggestive look, screaming hypocrite . 

Rachel didn’t say another word, just left the room, a look on her face that didn’t belong on Rachel. 

Piper left right after, without a glance to Annabeth.

And so Annabeth was left alone to think of her problems without a single distraction.

Chapter Text

Percy was getting sick of affection. That was something he never would have that would happen, yet here he was.

Growing up, his mother and father never cared for him. Uma ditched him the best she could the moment she could walk, while he was still fresh out of the womb. His father had never been in the picture, especially because his parents weren’t married when they had Percy.

Affection and care was a foreign concept for his entire life until he had arrived in Auradon. Not that that was a sudden change automatically giving him loads of affection. No, that happened when he started dating Rachel.

He barely knew what had happened. It was like Rachel had just assumed that he liked her. Although, to be fair, he had kind of been leading her on. It just felt like one day, out of the blue, they were dating and that was it. 

Yeah, he remembered their first date, but this rest of that felt like it had just been included without his agreement. And now he didn’t feel like he could back out.

Percy put his head in his hands. How did he get into situations like this? Two years ago, when he was fourteen, he had dated Calypso because she had told him to. He agreed because she was popular and that would make him better known. She had street cred, and he’d automatically get some by default.

What would it be like to date someone you actually romantically liked or loved? Like the stories. All the stories that Auradon told, even with different Isle versions, there was always the princess who fell in love with the prince.

A lot of the princesses had pretty blonde hair (his mind instantly went to Annabeth), frilly dresses, and were perfect and all that. 

But would one of the fancy princesses or chief’s daughters or whoever the heck existed that he genuinely liked, ever like him? 

He wasn’t stupid (at least not much), so he knew that he wasn’t considered all that great with his villain parents. There were exceptions like Mal, who had ended up beloved by the whole kingdom, but was Percy really that good just by himselfs, parents forgone from the equation?

He didn’t think so. And if he didn’t, why would someone else think that he was good?

Maybe Rachel would end up being The One. She could be his princess (chief’s daughter). But… if he was really being honest, he felt nothing for her. Friendship, perhaps, but nothing else. 

And he was leading her on. How great. Or not. 

But he just felt like he couldn't cope with that. The casual touch was overwhelming, suffocating. He had never been against physical touch, and he wouldn't if it was casual touches as just friends, but with the pressure of knowing that Rachel meant it romantically, he wasn't able to handle it.

How was he supposed to know what to do? There was nobody to ask for advice. He was alone. What was he supposed to do? He put his head in his hands, wishing on all evil for a simple answer. 

Percy was still on lockdown. It was hilarious to prank, so he didn't regret it. Soon, he would have to plan his next one. After he dealt with the situation with Rachel, of course. Ugh, he should have been too cool and suave to have relationship problems. 

He left the room to 'go to the bathroom', in reality seeing if he would run into Rachel.

And he did. So, positively delightful. Nothing better than making eye contact with the girl he was about to break. Well, break her heart. 

Yeah, he was supposed to be evil, but he didn't like the whole actually hurting people thing. It made him squeamish. Unless it was with well deserved revenge, of course. 

Lob and Barry were watching him like hawks as he stopped beside her when she gestured for him to. They tightened their grip on Percy's shoulder, to the point that it was starting to get painful. It felt much more like home now, Percy thought ruefully. 

"Psst, Percy, do you want to blow a bubble tomorrow?" Rachel asked.

Percy barely refrained from groaning. That was the secret term she had come up with to convey going on a date.

"Can't, I'm on lock down," he said. Lob and Barry just about ever had facial expressions, but he could have sworn that they looked slightly happier after he said that, probably convinced that he was becoming good. Their grips lightened in unison on his shoulder. 

Rachel tapped her artfully decorated shoe to the ground, indicating what she claimed meant please. Percy had to learn all sorts of things that his creative 'girlfriend' had made up so that they could communicate still under his heavy security. 

Carefully, he tipped his head in a slight nod, realizing this might have been the thing he wanted. It could give him a chance to fix things. 

Rachel grinned, catching the small nod, and pulled him in for a tight hug. He stiffened, not sure what to do. Thankfully, Lob and Barry pulled him back roughly. It hurt, but not quite as much as the hug. He knew that during normal circumstances, even if he pretended he didn't, he would have enjoyed the hug. But not with the pressure it brought. 

"Bye," Percy whispered.

Her smile widened, and she blew him a kiss. Without another word, he turned back in the direction he had come from. "I don't need to go to the bathroom anymore," he muttered.

Lob and Barry didn't say anything, but they clearly knew it was a ruse. Oh well. If all went right tonight, he wouldn't have a reason to keep sneaking out. 

Percy was nervous now for having to break it off. Last time he had done so, he had made an enemy of one of the most powerful VK's he knew. 

But he had to do it. There was no going back, not at this point. He had made it too far for this. Too much effort had gone in to waste it. The silly thing was, he had not even put that much effort in, he just didn't want to do it at all. So now that he had put some effort in, it still felt like he had tried way too hard. 

Now, how to escape. The siren song had had way too big consequences last time he used it, and everything else he had done wouldn't work twice.

Wait-he had an idea. He shared enough classes with Piper that he could get her help, and hopefully she hadn't distanced herself enough from him that she would completely ditch him even in his time of need. Hopefully. Yeah. 

"Piper," he whispered from his seat not too far from hers. The girl beside him, Miya, he thought her name was, heard him, and by some sort of Auradon code, passed the message on. She whispered to the boy beside her, who happened to be Jason, who then whispered something to Piper. 

Percy wondered exactly what was being said. Probably that he wanted to speak with Piper. A nod in his direction, and he knew that she understood. 

Rachel was sitting on his other end, and looked at him, obviously expecting him to  tell her what his message was. But it wasn't important for her to know, so he just shrugged and looked away. 

Piper announced loudly, "My legs are too long for this chair, and Miya's are shorter. Can we switch seats?"

The professor narrowed her eyes, but before she could say anything, Miya piped up, "That's good with me!" She was nowhere near as good at lying as Piper, but Percy was grateful nonetheless. Auradon kids weren't all so spiffy, he guessed. 

They switched seats, and waited for the professor's attention to leave them. Once just about everybody was back to focusing on the lesson, Piper asked in a low tone, "What did you need?"

"Do you have any more potions?"

"I want to say no, because they were all confiscated, but you know that's not true. Which do you need?"

"Do you have a sleeping spell?"

"Yes, why?"

Percy made sure his voice was so quiet that it could hardly be heard. "I need to drug my security guards so that I can sneak out to meet Rachel."

Piper had disgust all across her face. "We're not in the Isle anymore. That's wrong and you know it."

"Says the one who has the sleeping spell in the first place."

She frowned, giving me a subtle death glare. "Whatever. You'll find it in your dorm by tonight. Just make sure you don't make it known that it was from me when you get caught."

"I don't plan on getting caught," Percy said matter-of-factly.

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever." Louder, she said, "I actually think my old chair was better. Can we switch back.

The professor looked like she was about to nap, her eye even noticeably twitching. 

Miya said, "Sure." No other words about that were said, only a silent switching of the seats. 

Percy wondered if he and Piper were no longer friends, and if they ever would be again. 

No, he told himself. This was not the time to be worrying about that. He had more important things to think about. Besides, he thought stiffly. He didn't need anybody. Percy was his own person, a fierce pirate from the Isle. Anyone who dared cross him would have to fear their end. 

So, yeah, he didn't need to worry about Piper not wanting to be friends with him even though they had been best friends since they were little.

The way they met had actually been pretty funny. Percy was six, and Piper five. Or as she said, "Five and three quarters."

This was back when his dad was still around. Sometimes. His dad had never really been around all the time. But up until he was six, soon after he met Piper, his dad never came back. 

His dad had scolded him jokingly for burning the food. "Now, now, Percy. You know setting things on fire is my job, right?"

"Yeah," Percy said, ducking his head in shame. 

His dad just laughed. "I'm just joking. Just make sure you don't tell your mom."

A cough came from behind them. "Hades, what on water are you telling Perseus not to tell me?"

"Percy," said boy corrected quietly. 

Ursula sent him a glare that quickly shut him up. 

Hades shook his head. "Nothing important. I just gave him a piece of candy."

Ursula got bigger, shifting from mom to monster. "Don't do that again!" she yelled.

Percy flinched, retreating into a smaller part of him.

A sly grin on his face, Hades said, "Of course, my Love." The words were sweet, but Percy could feel the anger pulsing from them.

Percy and Uma should never have been born. Hades had cheated on his wife, and so Uma was born soon after Mal. A few years later, a reminder of Hades' first mistake, Percy was born. Ursula and Hades had never married, but Hades was in and out, sometimes going a year or more without visiting, until one day he never came back, surely regretting his mistakes.

It was with great displeasure that Percy thought of himself being a mistake. Why should he have been born in the first place if that was all he was? His little mind couldn't comprehend it. 

The moment that Ursula left, Hades' anger was much more prominent. "Next time that happens you will be the one with the fire!"

Percy ran from him. Ran as fast as he could, because he was terrified, like the little wimp he was. 

He ran right into a girl and knocked her over. 

The girl screamed at him, and attacked him, a full-on brawl resulting from it. When the girl finally stopped, her anger fading, she grinned. "Hi, my name is Piper. What's your name?"

Percy was shocked by the sudden change in her behavior. Paired with the oddly sweet way she said the words, he was suspicious. 

"My name's Percy," he said, measuring her reaction in a way that a young child from Auradon never would. But Isle children had to grow up early. 

Somehow, a lifelong friendship formed from that brawl. A simple Percy running into Piper changed everything.

"Percy!" Rachel said loudly, taking him out of his deep reverie.

"What? What happened?" he asked, slightly dazed. Maybe he had been asleep.

"Class is over. Come on. It's time for lunch."

How had it already become time for lunch? He definitely had been asleep for time in a school to have gone so fast. 

"Okay," was all he said.

"Come on!" Rachel said brightly, grabbing his hand. Much to his dismay, she didn't let go of his hand, instead swinging it like little kids would. Little kids in the Isle wouldn't have. It was an Auradon thing 100%. 

Percy held back his grimace, feeling their hands touch and swinging. Even if he had liked Rachel romantically, that was plain tacky. And embarrassing. Everybody could watch him, kids from the Isle included. 

Lunch went fast, and the day got closer to his date. Oh, he was not looking forward to this.

Time had a grudge against him. Percy was sure of it. There was no other way that it would take forever normally for school to end, but now that he didn't want it to, it was speeding by like nobody's business.

Before he knew it, the rest of his classes were over. At the end, he had barely a memory of the entire day, it had gone by so fast.

Why? Why, why, why? Could he just opt out of doing this? Pretend like he liked Rachel, perhaps? Or just die? This was going to be awful; he could feel it already.

When he went back to his dorm with the guards, and they took their place at his door, he looked on the bed for the sleep potion. 

Thank goodness nobody was actually in there. Lob and Barry always stayed on the outside, and other guards were stationed outside the window. Frank hadn't been around much, not wanting to be caught in Percy's punishment. 

Nothing on his bed seemed out of ordinary. Did Piper forget? What if she had done it on purpose? Percy could see her not doing it on purpose, but she specifically promised. Piper was not one to go back on promises. 

A twinkle, a little sparkle caught Percy's eye. The glimmer of a glass vial. Perfect. He looked at the source, and there was the bottle, waiting at a fold in his bed.

That was when Percy had realized his bed had been made. How had he not realized that sooner? He only made his bed when he was forced to, and it wasn't the same as it would have been if a guard did it. When they did it, it was so rigid that Percy would have noticed no matter what.

Piper must have done it, making it hide the glass vial ever so perfectly. Such a Piper thing to do. 

Percy picked up the vial, saw the clear liquid inside of it, and shook it gently to make sure there was actually some in it.

Should he try it on someone first to make sure that it worked? Nah, he decided. That wasn't necessary. It would only waste it, and if it didn't work, then it didn't work. The worst that would happen would be that he wouldn't have to go. Or maybe that was the best that could happen. 

Looking at the vial made it all feel real. 

But when the time came, it didn't feel quite so bad. He drugged the guards, just like he had planned to. It made him feel squeamish to see their bodies collapse, but he had to do what he had to do.

He had dressed in his normal clothes, the same thing he would have worn back in the Isle. But when he snuck out, and saw Rachel, she was dressed much better.

"Percy! You made it!" Before, her enthusiasm would have been contagious, but now it just made him feel bad.

"Yup," he said dully. 

"Let's go!" she said.

"Okay." Percy needed to stop with the one-word responses, or Rachel would get suspicious. 

They walked for what felt like forever (proof that tie was really against him), Percy listening to Rachel's excited chatter without imputing a single word. Rachel didn't seem to notice, though.

When they got there, to the secluded forest, Rachel grabbed his hand. "Percy, do you know how to kiss someone?"

Percy was caught off-guard by her question, and simply answered, "No."

A small smile on her face. Everything was going to be ruined. "I can show you how," she suggested. Without giving time for Percy to move away, or say no, she pressed her lips to his in a kiss. This was not how he had imagined his first kiss going. Not that he had ever imagined his first kiss.

He liked Rachel, he really did, just not like this. He pulled away, watching Rachel's happy look shift to shock, confusion, and hurt all at once. 

The look on her face felt like a punch to the gut, but Percy couldn't. It was wrong to kiss her when it was making him feel awful. He just needed to stop it. 

Shakily, he said, "Are you okay?"

"Am I okay?" she repeated, sounding absolutely flabbergasted. "The better question to ask is are you okay. You're the one who pulled away."

Had he already mentioned that he felt awful? Percy said, "I'm fine. But... I need to tell you something."

Rachel's eyes widened, and Percy could practically watch the thought process in her brain as she tried to see what he was meaning. "What?"

"I don't like you." Seeing the look of pure shock and hurt cross her face, Percy tried to revise. "Well, I like you. Just not like the way you like me."

"Oh." The single word sounded so sad that Percy wanted to kick something. No, not something. He wanted to kick himself.

"I'm sorry," he started. 

Rachel stopped him. "Don't. You like Annabeth, don't you?"

Why would she possibly like that? He did not. He couldn't. And he most certainly didn't. 

"What?" His voice was incredulous.

"You like Annabeth," she said again.

"I do not," he told her.

She bit her lip. "I think you do. I won't tell her, I promise."

"There's nothing to tell her," Percy protested.

Her look was sad, but definite. "Yes, you do. I should have known."

"How could you have known? There is nothing there for you to know!" 

"It's how you look at her. I had hoped that you liked me, but you've never looked at me like that." Rachel had a small smile on her face, looking bittersweet. The moment she finished her words, she started walking away.

 Percy watched her leave, dumb-founded, and by the time he started walking back himself, she was long gone.

Chapter Text

Something was off. Annabeth could tell. There was something different in the air. Rachel was acting colder than evil, an ice queen like Annabeth's aunt. An odd thought, but the truth. 

It was like there were little daggers facing Annabeth's way anytime Rachel looked at her. Not that Rachel looked much at her. If she had been distant before, she was a million miles away now.

It was crazy how far apart they seemed after how close they had once been. Rachel and Annabeth had been roommates for the last few years, and that was like basically signing a contract without actually signing a contract to being the one friend that would just automatically be there.

But it wasn't like that anymore. Roommates were all that they were at this point. Not friends. Definitely noy best friends. It was a stretch just to call them roommates, when Rachel avoided the room, or Annabeth more likely, like the plague. It was a miracle in itself that Rachel would come to the dorm to sleep. 

Rachel wasn't with Percy, though. Percy looked happier, his eyes brighter, his smile larger. And Annabeth noticed that her letters had been more frequent. Not that that had anything to do with Percy being happier. 

The letters were quite honestly getting sweeter, if that was possible.

Annabeth, 

I love the way your smile lights up the room. 

Gosh, she desperately wanted to see his smile. She was sick of thinking she didn't, when she knew she did. She had fallen in love with a mystery, that was for sure. 

I hate to break it to you, but I'm running out of words to describe your beauty. I tried to come up with a few, but they can hardly capture it at all. Excellent, of course. Way more than excellent. 

splendid

wonderful

magnificent

superb

All of them, but more. You're splendid in the way that you take such care into doing everything you do. It's like you're looking through a microscope to see all the tiny things. Wonderful, oh, you're wonderful in everything. Wonderful in the way you smile, like I earlier mentioned. Wonderful, in the way your eyes shine. Wonderful, in the way that you are beautiful in every way. Don't judge me, alright? 

Fancy words are hard to come up with. Beautiful will have to do. Except, beautiful doesn't begin to cut it. What about the way you're magnificent? More magnificent than Maleficent, the most famed villain of all. Magnificent like the way you are everything just because you are you. Superb, because that's a nice word, and if it's nice, then it quite fits you. Glorious is another one that I'm quite fond of. Glorious in the way you shine brightly, far more than the millions of stars in the sky. Everything about you is perfect, or more likely perfection just isn't as good as you. You are Annabeth, and that's the best thing of all. 

                                                                                                                                                     Sincerely, 

                                                                                                                                                                Yours

Yeah, she was getting stupidly sappy letters like that. That was slightly beyond the point, even if it had been just about all that she could think of recently. Sincerely Yours. The mysterious someone that she had no idea who he was. Her only clue was his words. But she liked words, and so she liked him. Simple as that. 

Again, beyond the point. Her brain really needed to shut up about Sincerely Yours and focus on more pressing matters. Like why Rachel was so mad at her.

And what had happened between Rachel and Percy. Something was different about the both of them, with the way that Percy was happier, or more relaxed, and Rachel was hiding, and tense. Quite the opposite, it seemed.

Had that scumbag of a pirate, the little bastard villain kid hurt her in any way? He better not have, or he would have some answering to do. 

Did he dump her? Annabeth's thoughts were starting to go into the danger zone, to the point where she was starting to consider murder, which would get her labeled as a villain, the ones she hated the most.

If he had dumped her, or was the reason that she was acting like this... Well, in that case, he was a goner. Annabeth just hoped for two simple things. One, that it would not get traced back to her, and nobody would have any idea that she was the one that got rid of Percy. Two, that his blood didn't get her or anywhere else messy. 

She wasn't like Snow White; she did not like cleaning. Sue her. Or preferably not. 

It would be so easy to squish the life out of Percy. Perhaps she could choke him. What would happen then? It wouldn't result in blood, she didn't think, only bruises around his neck. 

Yeah, Annabeth liked the sound of that. She held back a laugh before returning her attention back to the professor.

It was amusing to think silly things sometimes, even if it wasn't technically what most would define silly. She would never actually do that to him, although it might be a thing for her to punch him or something like that.

As much as she didn't want to admit it, she didn't hate Percy anymore. He was just there. Almost like Piper, but not quite. Piper was borderline a friend. Still, not quite, but close. Like a not friend friend.

Percy, on the other hand, was more like a tolerance at this point. Annabeth didn't like villain kids, but she didn't much have a specific thing agaist them anymore. It had been sudden, seemingly coming out of nowhere that her opinion had changed, but she just couldn't bring herself to resent those who had done no wrong.

There were others she didn't like. Percy still wasn't quite on her like list, but she could admit that his humor was nice. Sort of like Leo's. She appreciated the break from reality, even if it was quite stupid.

She did sound quite hypocritical, saying that she enjoyed the humor and jokes when that had been one of the many things that made her rather dislike Percy, but quite frankly, she was beyond caring. 

What was it going to hurt her to not hate someone? Nothing, really, so why did it matter? She hated villains, but she didn't initially hate their kids anymore. Some were nuisances, that was true, and Percy most certainly could be, but they didn't seem evil like she had once thought. 

All was good for her at that time. Yeah, Rachel had some sort of vendetta against her now, but the rest of her life was pretty much smooth sailing. She hoped that it would last. The sweet letters from Sincerely Yours made her feel warm and content inside. Recently, she had done some research on the five love languages, and she was quite sure that hers was words of affirmation.

It was ridiculous how that was all it had taken for Sincerely Yours to get her to fall in love with him. She hoped that he was serious about liking her back, and that one day they could be together.

Okay, that was a little ahead of things. She hoped that Sincerely Yours would reveal his identity to her, and that he would be someone that she liked. Hopefully, in a less noble desire of Annabeth's, he would be cute too. But of course that was not what mattered.

Annabeth really needed to think about more productive things. It was so stupid how her thoughts kept on going back to Sincerely Yours. Why? A stupid crush, or even being in love (which she didn't actually know if she was or not yet) did not mean she could just obsess over someone she had never met.

Actually, how did she know she had never met Sincerely Yours? He could sit right next to her, and she would never know. Subconsciously, Annabeth glanced at the seat to her left. Just Piper. And she very much hoped that Piper was not Sincerely Yours. 

On the other side of Piper was Jason. Annabeth also did not want it to be Jason. Again, for obvious reasons. On her other side was Leo. Sincerely Yours was definitely not him, but Leo wouldn't be the absolute worst. Better than it being Jason, at least. Jason was her cousin for goodness sake. And that was disgusting.

Not to mention, Jason totally had a thing for Piper. Annabeth could tell.

Ugh. Annabeth barely held in a groan. She was becoming... weird, to say the least. All her thoughts were about the love letters, Sincerely Yours, and couples. She needed to think about things that actually mattered.

Something that mattered was her friendship with Rachel. She could try to fix whatever had gone wrong. It was with eager anticipation that Annabeth waited for the class to be over.

Finally, the clock struck the end of the hour, and all the kids were free to go. Their professor was punctual, and wouldn't keep them later than they were supposed to be, thank goodness.

"Rachel," Annabeth said quietly as she walked not so inconspicuously by her former best friend who was decidedly not looking at her.

No response. 

Annabeth tapped Rachel's shoulder. Rachel swiveled around, and looked about to say some not so pleasant words. 

"Rachel," Annabeth whispered again before said person could complain and start a huge argument in front of everybody. It was not the time. "Can you talk to me later?"

"Why?" Rachel asked. She finally spoke to Annabeth! Annabeth was beyond relived.

"Oh, finally. You talked to me. I just want to talk to you."

Rachel took a while to respond, seeming to think it over. "I guess," she said. Annabeth felt like a weight was lifted off her shoulders, knowing she wouldn't have to try to convince Rachel to talk to her more.

"Thank you," she squeaked, not saying anything further in an attempt to make sure she didn't scare Rachel off. 

With that, she walked to her next class. It was with great delight that Annabeth thought of Rachel talking to her. 

Maybe Annabeth was changing, because it didn't feel so bad to be so dependent on having her best friend remain her best friend. It didn't feel so bad for her to be sort of friends with kids from the Isle. All of it didn't feel as bad as it used to, and Annabeth knew without a doubt that somehow she had changed for better or for worse.

The time had come for her to talk to Rachel. Well, not really. There had not been a specific time set. But Annabeth was going to talk to her in their dorm and everything would be sorted out. 

She worried briefly if Rachel would avoid her, and their conversation, claiming she was hanging out with other friends or whatever, but Annabeth quickly decided against it.

Rachel was a better person than that. A better person by far. She was the one who should have been the princess. Being the daughter of Merida, she had inherited some hard to manage red tangly curls that didn't look so princess like, and her freckles that were like constellations dotting her face weren't quite either, but she was still beautiful, and that wasn't why Annabeth thought s in the first place.

No, it was the way she acted. Rachel often acted much older than she was, and was quick to make decisions. Always good at telling others what they needed to do, and good at doing things herself while she was at it. 

And Rachel was stubborn. Something that wasn't always nice for Annabeth, but something a princess could really use. Annabeth could admit that she herself was just as stubborn as Rachel if not more, but that didn't make it any easier to deal with. 

Soon enough, Rachel appeared in the doorway, looking very much not like Rachel. Upon closer look, her red curls had gone even more wild. Almost like if they were unkempt for lack of better terms. That wasn't the important part, though. 

It was the shadows under Rachels's eyes. The shadows in her eyes looked so purple and so large that Annabeth was worried for her. 

Rachel looked so tired. So over everything. Annabeth felt bad for not being as good of a friend as she should have been. How easy would it have been to look after Rachel better. What if Rachel wasn't sleeping because she was barely in the dorm because of Annabeth? Was this tired, sunken version of Rachel really Annabeth's fault.

"Are you okay?" Annabeth startled herself by asking. That wasn't what she was supposed to say. There were other things that she should have started with. Maybe something asking why Rachel was being distant, or what had Annabeth done to cause it. But what was done was done, and Annabeth had already asked it. 

Rachel also looked slightly startled. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"You don't look it," Annabeth murmured gently. "You look like you've been through some stuff."

Were Rachel's eyes watering? Were those tears starting to form in her eyes? It kind of looked like they were.

Annabeth didn't know what else to do, what else to ask. She tried using her earlier ideas for questions. "Did I do something?" she asked desperately.

Rachel's appearance hardened. Gone were the traces of tears starting to form. 

"Yeah, you did," she said. Not unexpected, but it still hurt. What had she done?

"What did I do?" 

Rachel's features slipped into something Annabeth couldn't place. "You stole my boyfriend."

Annabeth was taken aback. What? Her boyfriend? Percy? 

"How in Auradon did I take Percy?"

"You just stole him, alright? You stole his attention because you're better. I finally had someone, and I lost him because of you." Her voice was louder, almost a shout.

Well, Annabeth was at a loss for words. "What?" she finally managed. 

Annabeth watched as Rachel’s expression changed for the last time. Changed into something that could only be described as defeated. "It's not your fault, Annabeth. I just need some time. Percy is into you. I can see it in the way he looks at you."

"What?" That had to have been the third time that Annabeth had asked that, but her mind was still back a step. The words finally hit her, and by the time they did, Rachel was gone. 

That couldn't be true. It couldn't. Even if it was, she had Sincerely Yours. Not Percy. She didn't like Percy. She barely tolerated him at all.

Chapter Text

Percy was pretty sure that Fairy Godmother was starting to be fond of him. It helped that he was honestly doing a pretty good job being on his best behavior. Any pranks he pulled did not lead back to him. 

He wasn't mean, he didn't bully. He didn't do any of that stuff. Not they would have been mean or bullied. Okay, he would have been mean, but he wouldn't have bullied anyone. 

So she was starting to look happier when he was around. Maybe not happy necessarily, but she finally looked like she didn't wanna kill him like she had before. So win, win, right? 

Why was it a win exactly? It was a win because that meant she ungrounded him. Yeah, he wasn't technically grounded, but he was stuck in his room, like the ultimate grounding, but from his headmaster.

She had called him to her office one day, and said, “Percy, you have portrayed a significant difference in your behavior. Since we are at the end of our first term, I decided I would give another chance.”

He had taken it gleefully, excited for what he could do to make her mad again. But there was some small part of him in the very back of his mind that didn’t want him to get in trouble. Not like he would listen to it, though.

It was nice that he could actually go places now. Speaking of going places, he was walking out in the garden, enjoying the sweet smell of freedom. It's nice to not be in permanent punishment. He had really taken that granted for a long time. 

While he was walking ever so peacefully, someone tapped his shoulder. Percy jumped, turning around. There was Mal, looking sinister as always.

He steeled himself. He was not scared of Mal. Uma has instilled in him that any pirate was better than her.

He put an uncaring look on his face. “Yes?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Something’s off with you.”

He rubbed his neck nervously. “What do you mean?”

“You’re hiding something.”

Percy looked away. “Of course I’m not.”

“You like someone, don’t you? I recognize that look.”

Red danced across his cheeks. “No.”

“Is it Piper?”

“No. Me and Piper are like you and Jay.”

“Oh. Who is it then?”

“Nobody.” 

“It is not,” Mal insisted. He hated when she tried to act like she was his real big sister. It wasn’t like she had ever been there for him. 

No, they were not siblings as far as Percy was concerned. At least Uma had been there a little bit.

He didn’t need family anyway. He was an Isle kid. He wasn’t even a kid anymore. He was from the Isle, not an Isle kid . 

“Yes, it is,” Percy argued.

“Don’t kid yourself. You like someone.”

“No, I don’t. Stop it. Just because you had true love happen to you doesn’t mean everyone else will. I do not have quote and quote love in my eyes.” Frustration leaked into his voice.

Before Mal could say anything else, he walked away. There was another game today; it was going to be in only an hour. School was already out for the day. And he needed to practice extra while he could. 

The game started out as normal. But normal didn’t like Isle kids, it seemed.

When Jay had collapsed, he had to take a break from tourney. Although it was the middle of the year, tryouts had been held.

Percy had decided to try out, and had since become part of the team, albeit temporarily. To be honest, there hadn’t been much competition at all, since few wanted to play it after what had happened to Jay, but he still had an accomplishment and was proud of it.

Okay, maybe he was the only one who had tried out, but he was a jock now, so who cared? All the girls loved jocks. When Annabeth found out who he was, who was sending her the love letters, then she would secretly be head over heels for him, and delighted if he was a jock.

Not that he cared. He didn’t. 

Speaking of which, he needed to write another letter to her. Some time. 

His attention was drawn back to his practice. About to start. This was the biggest game he had played so far. The end of the year was nearing, and the finals were close. 

The wind blew across his face, tickling his skin. His attention was solely on the ball. This was his chance, his chance to be more than just an Isle kid, more than just a VK. His chance to be something more. 

He couldn’t mess this up. This was it, quite possibly his only chance. If he helped the team win this, then maybe he would be welcomed.

Again, not that he cared. Oh, who was he kidding? Of course he cared. He cared so much that it was painful, and he hated himself for caring.

Did it show on his face that it mattered to him? Carefully, he shifted his face to neutral mode. No happiness, no anger, no nothing. He had not a care in the world, or he hoped that was what it looked like.

The game started before he was ready. He was going to mess up. No, that was not an option. He was not going to mess up. 

And it started. He couldn’t breathe. Focus. Don’t mess up. His skin was cold, colder than he was used to in the paradise that was Auradon. Clammy. 

That was when the world exploded and everything was ruined. Everything ever, all at once.

A scream. A loud, tortured scream. 

His attention sought its source, and he found Carlos.

No no no no no nononononononononononono not happening. Please, not happening.

A repeat of one of the worst days ever. The worst since coming to Auradon. 

Jay fell to the ground. Simple as that. He was fine, and then he wasn’t.

Carlos’ hands flew to his chest, and Percy was so close to him so close so close so close, and he could see the stains of blood seeping through his hands.

A shocked look on Carlos’ face, and he fell to the ground.

Fell to the ground. He fell to the ground. Again, again, again.

Fate decided to torture him, to haunt him. He wasn’t that close, but he was close enough that it was too hard. 

Memories, flashbacks threatened to come to the surface, but he tried his best to shove them away. 

Kids dying in front of him—

—no, he was not going to think about that.

“No,” Percy whispered, whispering to nothing at all. He couldn’t handle this, he couldn’t breathe, somebody else was screaming, but he couldn’t focus.

He pinched himself, hard enough that blood slipped through his skin, but he couldn’t feel it. 

Carlos was bleeding, bleeding, bleeding, so much blood. His body was convulsing, and his face was pale. Blood stained his lips, and they looked ghostly pale. 

It made Percy think of the stories of Snow White, the girl with black hair, pale skin, and red lips. Supposedly, she was beautiful.

But how could this be beautiful?

It was horror, horror to the worst extent. And another horrifying thing, Percy, frozen in motion, was crying.

Tears streamed down his face.

Everybody could see.

Or maybe he wasn't. Maybe he was imagining it. Maybe he was imagining this whole thing.  

And again he couldn’t breathe. 

It was too much, and he was going to die.

What if Carlos died? 

Carlos was dying and Percy was watching.

The scream belonged to Jane, he realized. She was on her knees. A guttural scream. It reminded him far too much of the one that had just been uttered from the bloody lips, that came from the boy

who

was

now

dead.

Percy could feel it with certainty. Child of Hades, of the wretched villain who tortured souls, he could feel the life leaving someone’s body.

Carlos’ life was gone.

It couldn’t be gone.

Pinching himself again, Percy forced his face to the neutral one he had previously dawned. 

He walked over to the collapsed, bloody boy so near him, but too far, and wordlessly joined the others.

How long had he been standing there unmoving? 

How long had he been standing there crying?

Jason scooted over to make room for Percy in the circle surrounding the dead boy. 

At the center of it was Jane (and a broken Jay and Mal and Evie but he pretended they weren’t there), crouching beside Carlos who was not moving, not breathing, not alive and none of it was right. 

Watching people die in front of him—

—not thinking about that.

There had to be a way to revive Carlos. He wasn’t actually dead. The feeling of certainty that he was dead inside Percy was just lying. 

A small knife was implanted in Carlos’ flesh. A pool of blood surrounded him.

Percy leaned closer and knelt by Carlos. 

Out of habit, something he did subconsciously, he pickpocketed him.

A box. He hid it in his hand. No doubt there was a ring in it. 

Tonight, he would have proposed to Jane. Rumors were that they were going to be the next to be engaged. 

They would have been right.

If not for the thin, ugly dagger. 

Someone had thrown the dagger at Carlos. But who? 

Percy wanted the murderer to die. No one should kill another person. That was wrong. He thought that as someone evil, that it was something horrifying that he would never dare to do.

But what if someday he did?

Growing up, Percy was alone. Nothing else seemed to describe it.

Uma would never admit it, but she was too scared to leave. She was bitter, though, and would never let Percy even near her.

For a while, Percy tried hanging out with Mal’s group. She lived in a different place, but the Isle was small so they still weren’t far.

It started out as him trailing Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay, but he didn’t last long before Mal caught him.

When she did, Percy had extra bruises that week. His toe was broken. Isle kids were ruthless, it was how they were taught to be.

But the moment that Mal, Evie, and Jay walked away, Carlos stayed somewhat behind. 

He asked Percy in a low voice, “Are you okay?”

Percy nodded meekly, feeling anything but, although he knew better than to admit to not being okay. Even when he was younger at the time.

Maybe he hadn’t been so young, but it still felt like so long ago. Percy had aged eons since then. 

Percy didn’t give up, because he was stupid like that. He continued following Mal around. She was nicer and more cruel than Uma all at once. It was unusual to others maybe, but to Percy it made perfect sense.

The best thing was that it was an escape. Yeah, Mal beat him up, but less so. 

He was unsuccessful most of the time trying to hang out with them, but he tried until they left for Auradon. Piper had already been his friend, but they were more prankster partners than friends. Friends weren't so much of a thing in the Isle.

Out of those years when he was only twelve, Percy remembered one thing vividly. Carlos always checked on him. He was always making sure he was okay.

Nice was not an Isle word, but Carlos came close to what it could be.

Carlos was gone.

He couldn’t be gone.

Carlos was the only one who didn’t hurt him but Piper. 

Gone. Gone gone gone. Carlos was gone. It didn’t make sense. They were never friends, again, friends wasn’t an Isle term, and they weren’t even the Isle versions of friends.

But it still hurt for him to be gone.

It didn’t make sense, though. Percy watched him die, but Carlos and death didn’t belong together.

When Carlos had gone to the Isle, he had become the boy he always should have been. There was often a smile on his face. Now the smile would never see the light of day again.

Percy wasn’t okay Percy wasn’t okay Percy wasn’t okay Percy wasn’t okay Percy wasn’t okay Percy wasn’t okay Percy wasn’t okay Percy wasn’t okay Percy wasn’t okay.

He wanted to be able to tell Carlos that he wasn’t okay. But he would never get the opportunity now.

Never say never. The thought came to him drily, something he almost laughed at but didn’t because laughing couldn’t be a thing anymore.

But Never had already come.

Chapter Text

“You’re pretty.” 

A small remark from him that made her blush too hard.

“Thanks,” she said bashfully, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ears.

He smiled, a devious smile, and nodded his head in acknowledgement of her words. He leaned forward, so close that his breath was hot on her face.

Gosh, he was so handsome. Why had she done this to herself, agreeing to be so much in the presence of the devastatingly beautiful boy? 

“I love your eyes,” he informed her, leaning closer still. 

“Yeah, you too,” she said breathlessly. “I mean, your eyes. Not mine. I love your eyes. They look good on you.” Shut up. 

He laughed, and closed the rest of the gap, placing his lips on hers. 

She gasped quietly, and wrapped her arms around him.

It was painful how much she loved it, how much she loved him. She shouldn’t have loved him at all.

And after all that had gone on. A death. Her fault. This was crazy.

He pulled away, and looked at her right in the eye, making her heart flutter all too much. The term butterflies in your stomach had reached all sorts of relatable in the last few minutes.

“I know what you’re thinking. It’s not your fault. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the greater good. Your remember why you joined us in the first place.” He always knew exactly what to say, didn’t he? Too charming for his own good.

Come to think of it, she didn’t. She didn’t remember why she had decided to join him. She remembered him asking her to join him, telling her it would make the world back to the way it should be instead of this weird reality that she was now stuck in.

He had promised her somewhere to belong, and that was what she wanted the most. It sounded like paradise. He was right. No matter the cost, this was worth it. Maybe then the loneliness would finally stop plaguing her, and the guilt.

Oh goodness, the guilt. So much guilt.

She had the sinking suspicion that the guilt would never leave her. Carlos’ death had just added onto it.

Besides, this wasn’t her first murder, and maybe it wouldn’t be the last. Her most recent was purposeful, unlike her first.

How did she know that the first time wasn’t on purpose? She had wanted to kill someone, she deeply had. And then she did. Still, death wasn’t actually what she wanted. Right? 

She was a murderer. 

“You look troubled,” he insisted. “Relax for a little bit. I promise, it’s almost over. Then you’ll be peaceful by my side, and I’ll protect you.”

She stiffened. “I don’t need protecting.”

He pulled her into a hug, and kissed her forehead. “I know. You’re tough. But you deserve protecting.”

The words slipped from her mouth before she could stop them. “I don’t deserve anything.” 

For a moment, something different flickered in his eyes. Something that she had never seen before. 

“You deserve the world,” he told her. “You deserve everything.”

She smiled softly, fighting back tears. “No, I don’t.”

“You do. I promise, you do. And I’ll do the best of my power to give it to you. It’s okay, Love. Just trust me.”

“I trust you.” The words had never once escaped her mouth, but she couldn’t take them back. She didn’t want to. Every word, she had meant. Every single word.

There were only three of them, of those words, but they meant everything to her. 

“And I you,” he returned.

Someone trusted her. He shouldn’t, though. She wasn’t trustworthy. 

She was sitting side by side with him, leaning on his shoulder, and she didn’t deserve it. He said that she did, but maybe he lied too.

It hurt too bad. She couldn’t do it anymore. Choked sobs tore from her throat, and she tried desperately to blink back the hot tears, but they were ignoring her wishes.

Quickly, she apologized. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” 

She bit her lip had, so hard that blood drew. Anything to distract her from crying. She would gladly be the one to have a knife in her, if it meant that it would stop the tears.

A knife. Blood. She would deserve it. Flashes of the fallen boy, of Carlos filled her mind. Of Jay, looking broken on the ground. He made it, but Carlos didn’t. What about her dad? She had killed him, like it was nothing.

Too much, too much, too much. She couldn’t breathe. 

A cold hand on her face stole her attention. Stole, ha, as if he would steal something. He wasn’t like her. 

“Stop it,” he said firmly. “You can cry. It’s fine to cry. But stop blaming yourself. If you have to blame anyone, blame me. I’m the one who told you to do that. It’s what needed to happen, Love.”

“I can't cry,” she managed, her voice strangled. “And it was my fault. You don’t even know the half of it. You think you know, but you don’t. If I told you, you wouldn’t like me anymore. So just stop while you’re at it.” A sob twisted the last of her words.

Stupid tears.

“Hey, look at me, okay? I will never leave you. You’ll be my queen, and we’ll be above all that have belittled you that way. You know what, you’re better than them already. Stop listening to the voices.”

Another sob ransacked her body. He said that now. But he didn’t know.

“Stop!” she warned, her voice low. “I need you to stop. Don’t try to give me hope. That’s worse.”

“I’m not going to stop until you’re okay. You can hope. You can dream. You can cry. Don't tell yourself what you can or cannot be.”

Can. How many things in the world could she actually do?

He continued before she could say anything. “Please, tell me what happened. I won’t leave you. Tell me, Love, and I’ll protect you.”

She couldn’t tell him. That would ruin everything. But her secrets had ruined her for too long. 

“I poisoned Jay, and now he might never go back to the boy he once was. I hurt him. And… I enjoyed it. Knowing I could control it. Carlos died, and it was my fault. I’m the one that controlled the dagger. And there’s more.

“My dad. He yelled at me, and I was fed up. I wished him dead. Then a sword stabbed him. That was my fault. I wanted it. I didn’t know I could do it, and I didn’t mean for him to die, but I wanted it.”

Her words were fast, rushed, almost blending in together. She shouldn’t have been able to do it. But she did. All the sudden, she had developed some sort of twisted power. A power she had used to kill Carlos.

Few knew about her power. And it was better off that way. 

Nervously anticipating his reaction, she was not expecting a laugh. “That’s all?”

“That’s all?” she repeated in shock. “What do you mean that’s all? I killed my father.”

He waved his hand in a casual dismissal. “It’s fine. You didn’t mean to. Did you love him?”

“No,” she confessed quietly, “I hated him. But I did wish him dead, and because of that he no longer breathes. And you can’t deny that Carlos dying was my fault.”

“My fault,” he corrected. “I told you to do it because it will save the greater good. I don’t regret it, and neither should you. Everything will be better. I promise.”

“You keep on promising,” she said, weariness sinking into her bones. “You ever been told don’t make promises you can’t keep?”

“You’re missing one thing, Love. I don’t plan on breaking these promises.”

She breathed in deeply. “You say that now, but what if your plans fail?”

“They won’t. I have lots of people with me, and most importantly I have you.”

“Don’t have so much hope. It only hurts worse when it all fails.” 

“That’s not important. Everything will be better, I am serious. And guess what? I have a secret. I love you.” 

Those words had never reached her ears before, or at least to her. He loved her. If he loved her, then maybe he was right. Maybe everything would be okay. 

Chapter Text

Sixteen days. 

The first day, Uma was mildly annoyed with Harry for disappearing, but let it go because, after everything, he deserved it. To leave for a day. Although she wished he would have told her first.

The second day, she was more annoyed that he would ditch her like this but hardly worried. There were many times that he would leave on an expedition in an attempt to explore the world. She didn't mind that much, but she wished he would have told her what he was doing, where he was going, and why he was leaving.

The third day, she started to miss him. Well, if she was being honest with herself, she missed Harry every moment that she wasn't with him, but that was for her and her alone to know because she couldn't have everyone thinking she was weak and for him to get a big day.

The fourth day, Uma cried in her room and didn't sleep the entire night because he never stayed gone that long. Harry wasn't the type to stay gone for long by himself. He needed other people constantly. 

The fifth day, she was ready to start looking for him, but it was hard to leave with how thick security was at the moment, and she wondered how it was possible that Harry had escaped. He was clever, but not more so than her.

It had been a long six days by the time she accepted that he couldn't have just run away. Something had happened. He would never leave her for this long. 

She paced back and forth in her room and did her best to come up with scenarios of what happened. Chances were that he had snuck through security. Most likely he would either have charmed someone—something that oddly bothered her—into letting him go for only a small amount of time so he could get something, or he would have walked away so casually that no one suspected he wasn't supposed to be doing that.

Sometimes Auradon felt like just as much a prison as the Isle. 

Now, what would have happened next? Obviously, he would have gone to the water and possibly borrowed someone's ship to get a break from everything. He knew better than to outright steal a ship, and even if he didn't want to leave Uma (and Gil and the others, she reminded herself), he wouldn't leave for that long. He just wouldn’t. 

Maybe he had run into a storm, and been unable to man the ship by himself. Maybe he would have accidentally crashed into a rock. So where did that leave him?

Dead in the water, an empty shell of the teasing boy that once was, floating in the ocean and never to be found.

"No," she said out loud clenching her teeth. That was not what happened. Statistically, it would be strange for him to die so soon after the tragedies that had happened in the last few months. 

Or... maybe that made it more likely. Jay was a VK, and though he didn't die he was clearly a target. Being poisoned wasn't an accident.

And Carlos. It had been attempted to be hidden in the wonderous school that was Auradon Prep, but it was hardly hidden the fact that he had been killed by a knife.

Knives don't just throw themselves. 

Two VK's already targeted, so how did she know that Harry wasn't just the next victim?

Because he couldn't be, she couldn't possibly handle that no matter what she tried to believe. 

Uma stopped doing hardly anything as she worried for Harry. If he was killed, well, she would kill his murderer in a slow, antagonizing death. She would slice the killer into pieces, starting with the non-fatal places so that the most pain would be felt, and when they were almost to the point of death but not quite there, she would start on the neck. Slowly, she would cut their neck off piece by piece until the killer gurgled up blood and choked on it. 

Seven days in, she cut herself with her knife (the one she wasn't supposed to have) and wished that she was cutting the killer instead. One week. She didn't love Harry; she wasn't weak like that. She told herself that, yet she couldn't imagine living without him.

By the time the first week was over, she stopped eating completely, and never left her room. There was no point in trying to live without him. The options were that he left her like so many before him (although she had thought he was the one person who would never leave her), or that he was dead.

On the eighth day since she had seen Harry, she was met with an unexpected visitor.

“Uma?” came Percy’s hesitant voice. So different than the confident one she heard nowadays. More like how he had spoken when they were young. 

He had grown up the moment she had turned away from him, and now she was left with a different brother than the weak little thing who was gentle with everything and never spoke a harsh word.

“What do you want?” she asked, opening the door and making him fall forward epically. A whisper of a mocking laugh forced its way out of her as she watched him scramble to get up. 

“Why have you stopped coming to class?” His eyes darted to her arms, and she could tell he was checking for marks.

Quickly, Uma hid her arms behind her back but not before he would have been able to catch a glimpse of her left arm.

Harry. I miss you. Words scrawled across her arms written with her dagger. She regretted it. It would make her look too weak if anyone saw it, and now Percy had. Geez, she was going to come out of this looking like a little wimpy princess who cried over her boyfriend.

Not that Harry was her boyfriend.

Or that she had cried about it.

Okay, duh she had cried about it because she missed him so much that it hurt and she had no way of knowing what had happened. 

“Harry’s gone? Not just ditching?” Percy asked. 

“No,” Uma spit out. “He’s gone and I don’t know when or if he’s coming back, okay? Don’t think I haven’t looked cause I sure have.”

“Oh, Uma, I’m so sorry.” The look in his eyes and the words he said broke her, but she was already broken. It was like stepping on broken glass and she was the broken glass and now she was in even smaller shatters and she couldn’t function without Harry. 

“Don’t be.” She attempted to shrug casually. “Not your fault. Why you visiting me anyway, eh? You’re breaking the rules, ain’t you? Skipping class and visiting a girl’s dormitory.”

“Since when do you care about the rules?”

That brought a distinct memory of her saying something similar to him at the beginning of the year. That was so long ago.

“I don’t care about the rules. Wanna know what else I don’t care about? You. I don’t care about anyone. Not even Harry. Especially Harry. Get out!” she practically screamed, breathing heavily.

Show no weakness.

Obediently he left with not another word. The moment he left, she fell to the ground and stupid tears fell with her.

Everything was stupid.

She pinched her arm to punish herself, overtop of the words she had carved in. 

Nine days since she had last seen him, and she decided to break in somewhere. She had to find the security footage to see if there was anything, a single shred of information she could find that no one else had looked for.

Did everybody else think Harry was just ditching?

Showed how much the VK’s mattered, except for Mal and her little friends, of course.

She found nothing, not even after watching the footage a million times over. 

Ten whole days since she had last seen him. That day, she didn’t even bother getting out of bed, and instead slept the day away.

That night, sleep refused to come like it had in the day. Why was it that Harry’s absence was making her nocturnal?

As soon as morning came, and the sun rose on the eleventh day, she fell asleep to hide from the horror that was life.

Only once that day she woke up. She threw up in the toilet, feeling sick her heart so much. Stupid love really was making her weak. She could hardly function anymore.

The same thing happened on days twelve and thirteen.

But when it was two weeks passed the last time since she had seen him, she vowed that she would find him.

He wouldn’t have just left her. Something had happened, and she was going to save him. Uma would be Harry’s night in shining armor.

She spent the whole day coming up with a plan. Fairy Godmother tried to get her to go to classes, but since the situation going on at hand was “traumatic” and she was “so sorry” and other such things, Uma was given the chance to “grieve” longer.

There wasn’t a bone in her body that planned to spend what little time she had left giving. 

Fifteen days since it had all started, she was ready to leave. But she was caught. The whole situation was entirely much too frustrating, and Uma was not going to deal with this.

Harry deserved to have someone looking for him. 

Instead, she was cooped up in her disgusting little dorm. This place really was a prison, wasn’t it? And they tried disguising it as some sort of paradise. 

On the sixteenth day, she was ready to end it, because there truly was no point without the boy that was her life.

What was the point of living without her life?

None.

So why should she have to try?

But before she could do anything, something else happened. 

A sharp, long knock, followed by two short ones, another long one, and ending with two short raps sounded on her door.

The door swung open and…

There was Harry, his black hair falling across his face messily, his vivid eyes gleaming dangerously. 

Several new cuts littered his face, and he looked like he had gone through a lot. But he had never looked more beautiful. 

She walked to him in a daze, questioning if this could possibly be real.

He grinned at her, and she couldn’t doubt that was him. 

Uma hugged him tightly and quickly, pulling away before she hardly touched him.

This was crazy. He was back after sixteen days.

“I missed you,” he told her, running his fingers over the cuts she had made that spelled out his name. The ones he was never supposed to see. He pressed his lips to each letter, and her arm felt like it was burning.

“You’re such a flirt,” she managed half-heartedly, thoughts running through her mind. She wanted so desperately to kiss him right now.

“Only with you.”

She gave him a look. “We both know that’s not true.”

“Okay, okay, but I only mean it with you, Uma. You know I only flirt with others to get your attention.” Seriousness that didn’t fit him leaked into his words, and she didn’t doubt that he was telling the truth. 

Before she could stop herself, she kissed him on every scar on his face, both the new ones and the old, mimicking what he did earlier. 

She kissed a scar on his forehead, on his cheek, on his eyebrow, on his chin. He had too many of them. Lastly, she kissed the scar that was at the corner of his lip.

His voice breathless, he said, “I love you.” Truth filled every syllable. 

Finally, she gained the strength to say the words she had wanted to for so long but never dared to utter until the day she heard him say them. “I love you.”

Laughing giddily, beyond caring about being strong or weak at this point—he made her strong—she kissed him on the lips.

Grinning, he rested his forehead against hers.

Chapter Text

Love at first sight. A common theme in Auradon. 

Annabeth was under the belief that “love at first sight” was an illusion. Maybe it had to do with her mom’s story, a tale of a girl falling in love with a boy the first time they met, meanwhile not knowing his shoe size or last name.

For Anna, love at first sight meant that the boy who so-called loved her had a perfect opportunity to betray her. 

Love at first sight was more in reality infatuation at first sight. 

Snow White had fallen in love at first sight, one of the many examples in this country, and it had led to her and her husband struggling through their marriage because they had hardly known each other.

Any princess or prince with common sense knew about their rifts. It was a popular gossip topic amongst royalty.

There had even been talk of divorce, but the chaos that would cause was unmatchable.

At the very least, Florian and Snow White had the knowledge that they were destined for each other because of their famed kiss. But that didn’t mean they were perfect as the public thought. 

So many other examples of relationships that hadn’t done well, even when they had been love at first sight. 

Annabeth found it hard to breathe as she went over the lists of how disastrous love at first sight was.

One of the best examples, love that was still perfect because they had taken their time, minus the love spell, getting to know each other, was Ben and Mal. Still rushed because of the situation, but it had been years before they married, unlike other couples. 

She loved Sincerely Yours. She had no idea why she did, but she knew that she had fallen in love with an idea rather than a person.

Annabeth wouldn’t give up on him, but she would wait until she could meet him in person before giving into the feelings that may or may not have been disguised as love.

Instead, right now she was worried about Percy. She worried that it had been love at first sight. Not that it was love, it most decidedly wasn’t. 

But… it had been months since she had meant him. This wasn’t love at first sight. Maybe it was okay to lo—like him. 

The feelings she felt for the boy that she had thought she hated had dumped on her like cold water, but they had also snuck up on her. 

The moment that changed everything was yesterday, and that day wouldn’t leave her mind for anything. 

Percy had handed her a blue rose with a smile. Not the devious smirk that often took place on his face, but a sweet smile that made her heart flutter obnoxiously. 

“For a pretty lady,” he said, walking away before she could say anything. 

That was the moment that Annabeth learned she had feelings for him, and those feelings weren’t hatred. 

It was stupid, truly, how a blue rose had led her to understand the turmoil that had swirled inside her for the last several months.

She would have tried to deny her feelings if thoughts had not played in her mind, every moment with Percy played on repeat in her mind.

Annabeth liked his pranks, a devastating discovery. It had started a challenge, a change, and it was thrilling no matter how mad it had made her. 

Goodness, what was she doing falling for the boy she should never have fallen for? It didn’t make sense. 

One day, if someone had asked her for an example of someone she hated she would have said Percy, but the next she was convinced that she liked him. This was crazy.

When she woke up this morning, her dream had stayed with her. She had dreamed of Percy needing to be saved, and her rushing in being his princess in shining armor. 

Dream Percy had kissed her hand in thanks, and she could swear that even awake she could still feel the pressure of his lips against her hand.

Okay, whatever, she didn’t have time for this. Enough wallowing in her bed. Bad things were happening, and she wanted to fix it in whatever way she could.

Simple as this: she was starting to fall in love with Percy, or more accurately was continuing to as the feelings had been following her for months.

There was nothing she could do about that at the moment, so instead she would ignore them and go on with her quest. 

Rachel was still asleep, making Annabeth wonder how long she had been awake and what time it was. 

Today was going to be the day that she took a leaf out of Percy’s book. He was such a bad influence, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.

For the first time in pretty much ever, Annabeth was ditching. While everybody was in class, she would investigate. 

“Rachel, can I borrow your jean jacket?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Rachel said sleepily, sounding like she hadn’t actually comprehended a word. 

“‘Kay, thanks. Where is it?”

“Dunno.”

Annabeth looked through her dresser until she victoriously held up the pain-stained blue jean jacket. 

Then, she dug through her own clothes and came up with a pair of black leggings and a dark-colored t-shirt. Dresses were her normal attire, or a skirt or nice jeans, but this would do better for her quest.

Finally, she twisted her hair in a bun. Checking her outfit, she saw that her hair was not going to work. Too fancy.

Instead, she took it out and attempted a messy bun. Just about every stand stuck out. Too messy.

Trying again, she pulled her annoying long hair into a ponytail and twisted the ponytail until it started curling in on itself. When she thought it was twisted tight enough, she wrapped it around until it was tight, and put another ponytail holder around it.

It was lopsided. She took a deep breath. It was okay for it to not be perfect. That wasn’t her motive. 

She looked more like a VK than an Auradon princess. Perfect. Kind of. It was scary, but lots of things in the last few weeks had been scary.

Carlos dying, Harry going missing, and her falling for Percy were a few examples. 

It was clear that there was a murderer. Or at least someone trying to cause chaos. Whoever this person was, they were targeting VK’s. 

First Jay, then Carlos, and finally Harry. This was no coincidence. 

Sighing, she walked out of her room. It wasn’t beyond her that there was a chance she might never go back to that room alive. 

But it was worth it if it saved people’s lives, VK’s or not. Goodness knows that they weren’t as bad as she had tried convincing herself.

The little things proved that. Piper had been distant lately, but she had become a genuine friend, something that Annabeth didn’t have many of. 

And the way Percy had been so clearly devastated over Carlos’ death was another example. He couldn’t have had that kind of reaction if he didn’t care. If he wasn’t a good person. 

Annabeth wasn’t like her dad, who had become prone to drinking after the death of her mom. She would rather die than be like the person he had become.

If she was so different than her parents, why couldn’t the VK' s be different than theirs? 

Carefully, she walked to Fairy Godmother’s office. That would be a start. Hopefully, she knew something. 

“—worried about them. It’s not safe here. We might have to shut down the school.”

Great. Eavesdropping wasn’t as fun as it should have been. That was not what she wanted to hear. 

What had she expected to hear, Fairy Godmother loudly announcing that it was Hades behind this attack or something? 

This was stupid. 

Quietly, she slowly turned around, careful to not be heard. Her eyes widened as they locked with Percy’s.

What are you doing here? she mouthed.

“What are you doing here?” he countered. 

“Shh,” she hissed. “They’re going to hear us.”

He rolled his (beautiful) eyes. “Chill, Princess. FG’s not going to hear us, and even if she does, she isn’t going to be bothered by the fact that we’re walking out here.”

“And how can you prove that?” Annabeth demanded, wishing that her brain didn’t feel so slow. It hadn’t been like this before she realized her feelings, had it? Ew, feelings. So gross. What a waste of time. 

“First, she’s not listening for us, so chances are likely that she won’t pay attention. Second, we are still on school grounds, and this area is not forbidden. Kids are allowed to go to her office. It’s not some closed-off fortress.”

Annabeth felt a deep desire to cover her cheeks that felt way too hot and were probably embarrassingly red. Way to look stupid, she berated herself mentally.

“Yeah, guess that makes sense. I’m just paranoid.” She froze after realizing what she had said. She hadn’t meant to say that last part. Or the first part, really. 

“Oh?” he teased. “Is that because you’re out here sneaking around?”

Her eye twitched, and she could not figure out for the life of her why she was annoyed; whether her annoyance was directed at him or at her. 

“Hypocrite,” she protested. 

He shrugged, his muscles apparent as he did so. Okay, yeah, she was definitely mad at herself. This was serious. Like people dying type serious, and she was focusing on his muscles. 

“I have things to do,” he said casually. 

She clenched her jaw. “What, more pranks?”

“Nope,” he said drily. “I think you’ve gathered what’s going on by now, and I don’t want to be the next one dead.”

An image crawled its way into her mind of him in an open casket, everything about him the same as normal except his head tilted to the side, half cut off. The mental picture of his bone showing, a deep contrast to his skin, made her feel sick. 

A desire encaptured her as she tried to shove the picture out of her mind to hug him tightly and never let go.

Goodness, she was starting to be grossly weak. 

“Me too,” she breathed, self-conscious of the way she was dressed. No make-up, her hair in a simple messy bun, and her clothes bland.

He wasn’t dressed much better, but he pulled it off way better. 

“You too what? You don’t want to die?”

“No,” she fumbled, “I mean, yes, I don’t want to die. But that’s not what I meant. I’m trying to figure out what’s going on so I can stop it.”

Once the words left her mouth, she realized how stupid they sounded. She didn’t have a clue how to fix this, and she couldn’t do it by herself. She sounded like a little kid trying to play grown-up.

Percy laughed. “Why don’t we work together, then? Two people work better than one.”

Why did this feel like the equivalent of love at first sight? It was slow coming but it also wasn’t. Ugh, this was unbelievably frustrating. Any irrelevant feelings needed to say bye because she was sick of them.

Breathe, she reminded herself.

“Yeah,” she said with feigned nonchalance, “that would be cool. Yup.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Is the famed Annabeth nervous? Cause you sound pretty nervous.”

“I’m not nervous,” she protested squeakily. “Anyway, where should we start?”

“Harry,” he answered immediately. “We need to find out where he was taken. The so-called secret that he was gone didn’t stay secret for long. Gossip travels fast here. We can start with him.

“Like, ask him where he was taken?”

“More or less. We do need to talk to him, but he also might not know where. Being kidnapped isn’t easy. Lots of times you’re not even conscious.”

“You say that like you know from experience,” Annabeth joked. 

“I do,” he said grimly, giving no further explanation.

Chapter Text

“What do you mean?” Annabeth asked, her wide eyes betraying her curiosity.

Percy chuckled grimly, his eyes dark. “Some things are better left unknown for innocent princesses like you.”

“I said,” she repeated angrily, “what do you mean?”

“That’s my business.”

“Please,” she almost begged. The irony—an Auradon princess begging something of an Isle pirate. 

“You really want to know?” he asked drily, nearly positive that she wouldn’t want to hear any sort of story from him. Little to none of his memories weren’t even close to pleasant. 

 “Yes,” she demanded. “We’re together in this now. Right now, we’re not Isle versus Auradon. We’re partners in crime.”

Percy let loose another laugh in disbelief. “Words I never thought I’d hear you or anyone in Auradon.”

“Yeah, well, things have changed.”

“Fine then, I’ll tell you,” he said in amusement. Let her see for herself how bad it was in the Isle. 

“Go on,” she prompted.

He closed his eyes, and let the memory rush over him like water. “My dad is Hades,” he started, ignoring the gasp that followed his statement, “something most don’t know.”

“Does that mean you’re Mal’s brother?”

“Yes,” he confirmed. “Half-brother. The gods don’t like it when it’s made known about their children. It’s a reminder of imperfection, how we’re still mortal. Especially Hera.”

“Hera?”

“Goddess of marriage. Not as perfect as she tries to seem. Unlike the stories of yours say, it wasn’t Zeus that threw Hephaestus off Olympus. It was Hera.”

Annabeth watched him intently, her eyes locked with his. 

“Sometime around last year, I made a mistake. I told someone I was Hades’ son, and that person wasn’t as trusted as I had thought. Word got out, and Hera was mad.”

“What is so bad about you being Hades’ son?”

“I told you that already. Hera is obsessed with perfection, and I didn’t fit her little image as most of us demigods don’t. She got mad that I had spilled the secret, and punished you.”

“Punished you?” Annabeth repeated, a shocking look of anger and something that faintly resembled defensiveness on her face. “How?”

“Kidnapped me. She took me, and I was missing for almost half a year. No one even looked for me. Not even Piper. Just like that, I was forgotten.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, whatever. It wasn’t that big of a deal.” His mind drifted back to the beatings far worse than anything Ursula had ever inflicted on him. Apparently, a goddess could do a lot more harm than a sea monster. “We should go interview Harry to see what he remembers.”

“But…” she trailed off uncertainly. “Okay.”

Percy tightened his lips in the beginning of a smile, but was unable to force a full one with his memories resurfaced. “Let’s go then.”

The entire walk to Harry’s dorm, a safe bet since Harry hadn’t left his dorm save to visit Uma in the few days since he had come back, he was silent, his thoughts littered with the months of torture.

It had all started when he woke up somewhere he had never been before and Hera’s golden smile greeted him, the rest of the room matching her smile.

He had stared at her in awe, but a rapid flood of visions filled his mind, so many that it felt like his mind was slipping in half.

Piper, writhing on the ground, screaming his name. Her glare engrained in his brain as she yelled, “Your fault, Percy! This was your fault!” The last words she uttered before her body went still, the life disappearing from her.

Mal, telling him again and again how he wasn’t worth it to care for, followed soon by Uma echoing her words, a shocking encounter of them actually agreeing on something.

His mother taking a knife and slicing him bit by bit until there was nothing left.

Endless rushes of images that were torture in themselves before they finally ebbed away, leaving Percy screaming back in the golden room. 

Hera took delight in that and altered between harming him in ways that should have killed him—boiling him alive, drowning him, and such—but not allowing him to die, and giving him visions that he couldn’t help but worry that were the future. 

Half a year of that.

“Percy?” Annabeth’s uncharacteristically hesitant voice tore him from his memories. “Is this Harry’s dorm?”

He stopped abruptly and stared at the door. “Pretty sure.”

“Who does he room with?”

“Gil, son of Gaston. Not super bright.”

“Will he tell of our visiting?”

Our. The word stuck in Percy’s mind. There wasn’t usually an “our” for him. 

He shrugged. “Probably not. And even if he does, then it won’t matter 'cause we’ll already be long gone.”

“Okay,” she said, her voice unconvinced. 

“Are you willing to risk getting in trouble for this?”

Her eyes hardened in determination. “I will do what I need to do.”

“Sound like a VK,” he teased. 

“If that’s how I have to act right now, then it’s how I have to act for now.”

A genuine smile took control of his lips. “What happened to the Annabeth I know?”

“Guess you didn’t really know her,” she said breezily. “Lots of things happened. I’ve seen how you guys aren’t as bad as you act. And now you’re part of Auradon. As a princess, I think I owe it to you to protect you guys. Carlos died, and I’m not interested in a repeat of that.”

Bad timing, but was he swooning? Ew. Why was that oddly attractive? Ugh. 

Percy offered another tight-lipped smile before knocking on the door. He didn’t wait for an answer to open the door, hoping it wouldn’t be locked. Harry didn’t usually try to hide anything, or at least pretended like he didn’t, and so often left things unlocked. 

At least he did in the Isle, a cocky move there. It could mean the difference between life and death. 

“Oy, I’m trying to sleep here,” Harry mumbled loudly. “Get out.”

“Nope,” Percy said slowly. “We need to ask you something.”

“Which is? And who’s we?”

“Annabeth,” said girl offered. “And Percy.”

That got Harry’s attention. “Interesting combination. What you need, dating advice?”

Percy inhaled sharply as his cheeks reddened. “I’m afraid not.” With a wink, he added, “Yet.”

In turn, Annabeth looked equally embarrassed but she managed to keep her cool. “We’ve come to ask you about when you got kidnapped.”

Harry smirked. “Pretty girl gets right to the point, huh?”

Percy clenched his jaw. 

“I’m afraid we have no time to waste,” Annabeth said. “So we’d like to know now please and thank you.”

“Why should I tell you?”

“You’re in no condition to be leaving her, yet no one would have much suspicion on me. As you said, I’m sure people are going to assume Percy and I made it past our differences. We’re going to find out who’s behind this.”

Shock radiated from Harry after her words, but he hid it well, sliding his hook lightly across his arm. “You think you’ll be able to do that?”

“If you supply us the necessary information.”

“Very well then. There isn’t too much I remember about being kidnapped prior to the event. I was drugged, you see. It’s hard to remember much when you’re unconscious.”

“Get to the point,” Percy practically growled. 

Harry raised his arms in surrender. “Okay, okay. I’m not entirely sure, but I have my suspicions.”

“Which are?” Annabeth pressed.

“I’m getting there. When I woke up, I was in somewhere fancy. I didn’t get much of a look at it when I escaped, and I was out of it if you know what I mean, but I’m pretty sure it was a castle.”

The entire time he spoke, his lopsided smirk never faded. Percy sure hoped he wasn’t this insufferable.

“Where is the castle? Maybe try and describe the surroundings,” Annabeth suggested. 

“Someone’s eager,” Harry teased. 

“I want this fixed before there’s more casualties.”

“Huh. I like you.” Noticing Percy’s anger, he added, “Not romantically, I’m afraid. Uma’s stolen me already. But I like your gumption. Wouldn’t have expected this of you.”

“Well don’t make assumptions,” Annabeth shot back. “Now, tell us your surroundings the best you can or else.”

“Or else what?” Harry asked, amusement slipping into his voice. 

“Or else more people die.”

That caused a rare bit of seriousness to jolt Harry. “When I escaped, it was dark, so I didn’t see much. It was tall, that much I could see from the inside. Taller than here. And I was injured mind you, so a tad slow, but it was maybe a day by foot from here 'cause when I arrived back it was dark again.”

Percy felt a sudden rush of sympathy for him. It wasn’t easy to walk for long periods of time when injured badly, and the thought of walking for an entire day sounded like hell. 

“What kind of stuff did you see on your way back?”

“I passed through a pretty big village. A few, actually. Something that stuck out to me was an orphanage. Didn’t think you had those here.”

“Oh, there’s still people without parents, or good ones for that matter, here,” Annabeth said darkly, probably thinking of watching her mother die.

Yikes. Maybe Auradon kids didn’t have as bad of a life as most VK’s, but their lives didn’t seem quite like perfection, either. 

He wondered about Kristoff briefly and thought that might have been what she was referencing when she mentioned not having good parents.

“Oh? Does the lady have bad parents?”

“Shut up,” Percy cut in. “It’s none of your business.”

“Touchy, eh?”

“Harry Hook, I swear if you do not stop making jokes right now, I will tear you apart limb by limb and everybody else will still die!” Annabeth warned, her voice raised.

Hesitantly, Percy remember Gil. But the other boy was still asleep as a log in his bed. 

Harry was shaking, initially looking from fear, but it soon it became apparent that it was laughter. “I like you, really I do. Back to the orphanage. How many of those do you have here?”

Annabeth appeared to think for a second before she admitted begrudgingly, “I don’t know at the top of my head, I think two.”

Harry nodded. “Look it up to make sure.”

Annabeth took what looked to be a cell phone (Percy had never seen one this close so he wasn’t sure) out of the pocket of her jean jacket. 

Percy was reminded that he had a love letter to give her. It had been too long since he had given her one, and he didn’t want her to think the mysterious entity who had sent the letters had forgotten her, or worse, she would forget about him. 

He was too far in to stop now. Besides, he had already written the letter in the night when he couldn’t sleep thinking about all the tragedies that had happened recently.

Auradon was supposed to be safe and perfect but so far it wasn’t living up to the hype. 

“I was right,” she confirmed. “There are two orphanages. Although they’re working on building more now that the barrier is gone. There are a lot more orphaned or abandoned VK’s, and not all of them are school-aged yet. Not that we have enough schools either.”

“Which one is maybe ten or fifteen miles from here?” Harry asked.

“There’s one who is called Live In A Shoe around that distance. The other is a lot farther away.”

“I think Live In A Shoe sounds right. It’s a little hazy, but I think that’s it. The big village was like an hour north of there. Then it was mostly abandoned woods fot a few more hours, finally coming out on a clearer path leading to the castle.”

“Perfect. I should be able to figure that out then.” A few minutes later she came up with something on her phone. “Yeah, there’s a castle called Aebarrow Palace. Does this picture seem right?”

“Yeah,” Harry agreed. “I think that’s it.”

“Thank you for your help. We’ll leave you now.”

When they left, Annabeth hissed to Percy, “Tell no one about my phone. I’m not technically supposed to have one here.”

“Understood. Where to now, Princess?”

“Now we escape. It’s a miracle those guards of yours aren’t taking you away already.”

He waved his hand in dismissal. “Don’t worry about that. I’ve been good recently, so Fairy Godmother gave me a second chance and said that all my punishments would be revoked considering that I had still been learning goodness then, according to her.”

“I can’t believe she actually let go of all that. She was so mad.”

“She was,” he agreed. “We need to hurry and get out of here before anybody notices we’re gone.”

“Yeah. Classes have probably already started. Nobody should be in the hall, then.”

“Exactly. Let’s hurry, though. We don’t have much time, especially if we have to walk like 20 miles.”

“Oh,” she said, surprised, “we’re not walking. We can take a carriage.”

“Excuse me?”

Half an hour later, they were settled inside a carriage, and Percy felt sick. He willed himself not to vomit as the bumpiness made his insides squirm.

He had gotten sick all of two times in his entire life. How was a stupid carriage doing this to him?

Soon, he fell asleep, a method he had long ago learned to escape pain. 

What felt like only a moment later, Annabeth was jostling him awake. If someone had told him yesterday this would happen, he would have laughed in their face. 

Today had felt like a fever dream so far and it was still early. Maybe. He wasn’t sure how long he had been in the carriage for.

Stepping out of the carriage made him dizzy like a lot of people claimed to feel after getting off a boat. Never before had he felt such sympathy for them. 

“Come on, let’s try to find somewhere to sneak in through,” Annabeth said. “This must be a summer palace or vacation palace or something 'cause I don’t recognize it. If we need to, we can try for a servant’s entrance. It’s pretty hidden compared to most, more a hideout than a castle.”

“The guards are at the front. And probably at the side, but no one seems to be guarding the windows,” Percy noticed. “Like most places. I can show you how to scale a wall, and either it’s unlocked or we break it.”

“Okay.” She sounded nervous. 

He waited until the guards were looking the other way, and delicately showed her how to climb up the castle.

She struggled, and at some point, she slipped, high enough up that she would have probably broken her neck, but he caught her hand and held onto it until she balanced herself.

Thank goodness that it was a stone castle. Those were much easier to scale. 

“I’ve got you,” he whispered, waiting a second to let go of her hand. When he let go, his hand felt oddly empty and cold. 

Finally, they made it to a ledge after several near falls. The guards had thankfully not been paying attention, and once they were high enough that they weren’t right in front of their view, they didn’t even have to worry about being caught.

It was helpful that most people didn’t think to look up. 

The window was locked, so Percy had to make the sacrifice of the noise and slammed his fist against the window.

His fist stung and was bloody, shatters stuck in his fingers when he pulled away. Hopefully, they were high enough that the lazy guards didn’t hear. 

Annabeth looked at his hand in concern, but he wasn’t too worried. He’d suffered worse. The big deal was that his DNA was traceable and once this was found, he was likely to be a direct target.

They snuck around the mostly empty castle after struggling their way through the large, jagged window.

After what felt like forever, they heard a voice, and immediately they stopped. 

“—surely they’re onto us by now, Happy. We need to be more careful.”

The voice was faintly familiar. 

Oh.

Annabeth took a step back in surprise and accidentally crashed into a knight costume thing. Percy had always thought those were weird.

“Who’s there?” the voice asked, panic tainting her voice. 

Run, Percy mouthed.

Chapter Text

“Oh my gosh, it’s freaking Snow White,” Percy muttered when they made it to an abandoned room. “What the heck? I knew she was sketchy. Like, dude, her story is so lacking in details.”

Annabeth glared at the ceiling as if it was at fault for how ridiculous her life was going. “Shh. I shouldn’t have to keep telling you that.”

Percy raised an eyebrow suggestively with a smirk. “You know, there’s other ways to shut me up, right?”

Her cheeks flaming, she barely refrained from smacking him. “Say that again and I’ll punch you.” Problem was that she actually didn’t mind him saying that, and it actually made her annoyingly giddy.

“Oh?” he teased. “I’d like to see you try.”

Annabeth crossed her arms. “Maybe I will.”

“You should shut me up while you’re at it.”

“I swear, you are so insufferable,” she half shrieked, doing everything she could to not let a goofy grin envelop her face. Honestly, this was so annoying. She had literally just found out something world-changing, yet she couldn’t stop thinking about the flirty boy next to her.

“Shh, I thought you said to shut up. Do you want me to have to kiss you?”

“Yes,” she retorted. A second later, realizing what she had said, she amended, “No!” 

A slow grin spread across his face. “Ah, I get it, Princess. You want to kiss me.”

“No, I don’t,” she said through gritted teeth, thinking at the same time, Yes, I do. “And don’t call me Princess.”

“One, you are a princess, and two, I know how to tell when people are lying.”

“Yeah, okay, whatever. Believe what you want. Doesn’t make it true. We need to get out of here.”

“As you wish, Princess.”

“Call me that again and I’ll…” She struggled to come up with a not actually harmful yet decent threat. “I’ll never speak to you again,” she settled on, not completely satisfied but nothing else would come to mind.

He laughed infuriatingly. “You do that. I’ll enjoy my peace and quiet.”

“It’s awfully tempting the thought of kissing—goodness, I mean killing you. You’re tainting my thoughts.” Mortification spread across her cheeks like fire.

“Nah, I think you were already thinking those things.”

Annabeth sighed. “Can we not talk about this? Let’s go back home.”

“Home.” He half-mouthed the word, saying it in a way that sounded weird.

“Auradon Prep. Sorry.”

“Never thought the Princess would apologize.”

“I can apologize.”

“Then prove it.”

She took a deep breath. “Fine. I’m sorry for how I treated you at first. I was quick to judge, and if I could go back, I would take it back. Growing up learning one thing makes it hard to understand that reality is something different entirely.”

“Oh, so you can apologize. Well, apology accepted,” he said brightly.

“Anyway, let’s go back. If we hurry, we can catch a carriage.”

He whistled. “Never thought I would ride in a carriage at all, much less in the same da. Must be nice to be rich.”

“It’s, well, it’s normal for me, so…”

“Yup. That makes sense. Kind of. Hurry up and summon one of those carriage things, and maybe we’ll make it back before we’re in trouble.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Annabeth agreed, calling a carriage once they reached the road. Again, she noticed that Percy seemed nervous and sick like the first time they had ridden today.

“Carriage sick?” she asked.

“Unfortunately,” he supplied, “If that is what you call it.”

The rest of the ride back was silent, both distracted by their thoughts. This was absolutely absurd. Snow White was in charge of murders. Literal murders. And more people were involved in this.

Some people at Auradon prep, too, had a hand in this. Somebody she knew was behind killing Carlos and torturing Jay and Harry.

It could even be Sincerely Yours. The thought made her just as nauseated as Percy appeared to be by the carriage ride.

When they arrived back, it was with nervous anticipation of what would happen next. They couldn’t take Snow White down themselves. And they needed to eliminate whoever was helping her.

They would need to find a way to prove that it was Snow White, which wouldn’t be easy. The best thing they could do for the moment would be to cause rumors.

If rumors started, it would be an easier foundation when it was revealed for real. 

She would have to talk to Percy about it first; what good would she, a teenager who had never had much experience with villains, do? Percy had far more experience than her at this sort of thing.

What she had said earlier was right, for now, they were partners. Maybe not for crime, but partners still. Cheesy at it was. Both of them were too involved now to turn around.

Annabeth couldn’t quit with how much she knew. That would be impossible.

“Percy,” she said before they separated. “Wait to tell anyone, okay?”

He stared at her for a solid minute before saying anything. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

With that, they went back their own ways. Chances were that people would think they had ditched together, which was technically true, and that at least would spread like wildfire. 

Upon getting back to her dorm, she hurried to change back into proper attire. There would definitely be more than a few rumors about her if it came out that she had dressed more Isle than Auradon. 

She took off the jacket and folded it on Rachel’s empty bed. A glimpse of ragged paper caught her attention, and she quickly slipped it out of the jacket’s pocket.

The paper was the same as the others she had stuffed away. This was no coincidence. It hadn’t been there when she was putting it on.

Sincerely Yours had put this in her pocket. 

Annabeth, 

It’s been a while, huh? I must admit, I have been somewhat busy. I wish I could tell you who I was, but that would ruin everything. There is not a chance you could like someone like me. Every day, I see you, and every day it gets more and more painful to not tell you who I am.

Do you realize what you mean to me? Every hidden smile of yours drives me crazy, but you, my Princess, have already made me crazy. Crazy for you. 

Unfortunately, I am unable to write anything longer than this at the moment, but just know that I’m thinking of you, and soon I’ll tell you who I am.

Sincerely, 

          Yours

Annabeth carefully held the letter in her hand, holding it almost reverently. Soon, she would add it to her collection, but now she wanted to study it, see if it would help resolve the whirlwind inside of her.

It had been a while since his last letter. Too long. She wished she could write him letters back, but without knowing who he was, there was nothing she could do.

For now, she was tired of trying to figure everything out. He said himself that soon he would tell her who he was, and until then, she would have to let her search go.

Already, she had learned too much today.

Focusing back on the letter, her eyes caught on the word Princess. The same thing that Percy had called her. Why did she have to fall for two boys? It wasn’t fair to any of them.

Tears pricked her eyes, for many things. For finding out who Snow White was, for dread at the chaos that was sure to come, for worry at what would happen next, and most of all for Percy and Sincerely Yours. For the pressure, the stress it was bringing.  

She breathed in deeply and brought both hands up to her eyes to wipe away the tears before they could fall.

Rachel could be back soon, although hopefully she was doing some sort of activity instead. Annabeth would appreciate some time by herself.

It was crazy all that had happened in the last eight hours. It seemed much longer than that, an eternity. 

She let out a shaky breath and refrained from giving in to the temptation of melting down. The tears couldn’t fall. 

The letter was clutched tightly in between her fists, and she realized that it was crinkling. She let go like it was burning and watched it fall to the floor.

When it slid underneath her bed, she sighed, almost tempted to leave it there. To pretend that Sincerely Yours didn’t affect her, or even that he had never existed. But that wouldn’t take away from the many letters already stuffed in her dresser. 

A single tear slid down her cheek and stopped at the side of her nose as she dropped to her knees next to her bed and reached for the paper. 

Wiping away the little bit of dust, she carefully examined every word. 

Do you realize what you mean to me? Every hidden smile of yours drives me crazy, but you, my Princess, have already made me crazy. Crazy for you. 

It was easy to acknowledge those words rearranged ever so slightly would apply perfectly to Percy.

Take out the “my Princess” part and the “hidden” in hidden smile. Percy’s smiles were far from hidden.

The biggest difference was that Sincerely Yours had written to me far longer than I had caught feelings for Percy akin to catching a cold.

It was just as annoying as a cold, too.

Too soon, Rachel burst into the room without knocking. Annabeth felt slight sympathy for Harry Hook who had been barged in that very same day.

Karma was a pain.

“Where were you?” Rachel asked. Things had cooled between them, but it had never quite returned to it had been at first.

Annabeth shrugged. “I ditched.”

“Yeah, no, I realized that. Why did you ditch? Did it have anything to do with Percy?” Her tone was light, and she sounded happy, but underneath was a veiled layer of sorrow, inducing guilt in Annabeth. 

She had a crush on her (kind of) best friend’s ex-boyfriend. That was against an unspoken rule, and very back-handed. 

“Kind of?” she phrased as if it was a question.

“How can it kind of have to do with Percy?”

“Uh… he may or may not have lured me into helping with one of his schemes?” Again, spoken doubtfully like a question.

Rachel laughed in disbelief. “Like, seriously? You? Miss Goody Two-Shoes? You helped Percy with a prank.”

“Not a prank,” Annabeth protested, “a scheme.”

“Such as?”

Channeling what she imagined Percy would do, she tried her best at a smirk. “Well, that spoils the surprise if I say it now, doesn’t it?”

Another shocked laugh. “Who are you and what did you do with Annabeth?”

“Why does everybody keep on saying things like that? I can be bad.” 

Rachel stared at her unbelievingly. “Uh-huh.”

“Okay, I get it, it stands for everything I’m against, but I wanted a change, you know?”

“No, no, I do not. I have never seen you do something rebellious out of your own free will. Wait, did he threaten you? I will gut him if he threatened you, just say the word.”

“No, he didn’t threaten me. It’s just— Oh, this is going to be hard. Can I tell you something and you promise not to be mad?”

Rachel nodded apprehensively, most likely guessing the words to come.

“I really like Percy.” She couldn’t believe that she was confessing this, but it was too late to take it back now.

Rachel stiffened but didn't say a word. 

“And I know that’s wrong of me. He’s your ex, and I promise I will forget about it entirely if you’re not okay with it. I didn’t mean to, you know. It just crept up on me. I hate it, but there’s not much I can do about the feelings themselves.” 

The words alone made her flush. This was the first time she had admitted it to anybody.

Rachel smiled a small smile that was barely seen. “It’s okay. I was kind of expecting this. I can tell that you like him. Besides, I’m over him by now. I want you to be happy, Annabeth.”

Annabeth smiled gratefully. “Are you sure? This is new, and I’m sure I can get over him. Besides, I don’t even know if he likes me back.”

“Oh he does,” Rachel assured. “Even if he doesn’t, he’d be stupid not to. Give it a chance, okay? Don’t let me hold you back. I promise that this changes nothing between us.”

Annabeth hoped that was true, though she had her doubts. The most important thing was that the crisis had been averted, and Rachel had no idea about the real reason she had been gone.

Chapter Text

Long live evil.

Those words were scribbled messily on the inside of Percy’s locker, small deep green pint clashing against the colorful blue. 

The handwriting was faintly familiar, but whoever had done it must have purposely done it so messy. 

Percy almost thought he was seeing things. No one but him knew his locker combination. Though, most VK’s would be able to break into it. 

It was just words. Enough to unsettle him, but not so much that he felt it was something to worry about. 

Swallowing, he walked to Annabeth’s locker. Surprisingly, she had made a good ally as of recently.

If he had tried to guess who here would have been his ally, she would not have been his first guess, but she surprised him. 

“Hey,” Percy said cooly, leaning against the locker next to hers once he caught sight of the familiar blonde curls. 

She really did look like a princess. It was strangely hard to think about her position. The Annabeth he had seen yesterday was easier. The Annabeth who was a princess was… hard. 

Her shoulders tensed, and she flinched, slamming her locker so hard that it made more than a few people look at them.

She covered her ears, even though the sound was gone, and looked desperately at all the people around them.

Percy noticed that she was shaking, her hand moving rapidly, hidden mostly behind her so that only he could see it.

He felt the oddest temptation to grab her hand and hold it until it stopped shaking. Hopefully, that didn’t mean what he worried it meant—that he had some very much unwanted feelings for the perfect Auradon princess in front of him. That would be bad, and not in the good way.

Though, as of recently, he was starting to question that badness was ever good. That sentence spoke for itself, he realized drily. 

Annabeth’s breath came out heavy, and her skin normally tan was paling rapidly, her lipstick standing out against the paleness. 

“Get away,” she managed through light gasps, her eyes still darting from person to person, clearly gauging their reaction. 

Oh. She was ashamed to be with him in front of everybody. That was why she was panicking so heavily. 

Dread pooled in his stomach, and he got the rising suspicion that everything yesterday had been but a farce.

Any feelings he worried were creeping on him he shoved as far away as they could get. It had been stupid to entertain the idea he felt anything at all.

First, feeling things was stupid. He didn’t need anybody else. Second, Annabeth was not the person to develop any emotions for. 

“Annabeth—” he started, not sure where he was going with that. Princess Annabeth, he realized belatedly, but not until after Annabeth was already speaking. 

She shook her head so fast that it looked painful. “I— Sorry, I’m sorry. Please, I… Come with me. Please.”

Wariness filled his every bone, and he was tempted to run away while he could. Before she could tell him she didn’t want anything to do with him. 

No one ever did.

He was worthless. 

The only way to prove his worth would be to make it up somehow. He had to. Otherwise, he hoped that he would be Snow White’s next target. 

Maybe that would be better no matter what. 

Everybody he had ever met would surely agree. What was the point of a life where he was living when nobody, including himself, thought himself worth living? 

Annabeth brushed her fingers gently against his, still in front of everybody else. Her hands were shaking fiercely, and she looked like she was ready to be sick. He was so glad that he was disgusting and horrible enough to be around that she felt sick touching him. 

Whispers were sure to start after this. Percy didn’t know what to think, but he was mad at himself for bringing this upon Annabeth.

She didn’t deserve to be stuck with him, to have her reputation tainted by him. 

“Hold my hand,” she muttered, low enough for it to only reach her ears. “Please.” 

No elaboration further than that, only aiding to the previous dread. 

Okay, he tried, but no sound came out. He slipped his fingers in between hers, gave into the temptation, and gripped her hand in his to steady the shaking. 

Tingles shot through his hand, and her hand fit in his perfectly. Perfectly. Nothing about Percy would be or has been perfect. 

Her eyes lit with determination and resolve as she stared at their intertwined hands, and her hand tightened around his, the shaking fading for the most part.

Color slowly ebbed back into her cheeks as she led him somewhere, Percy unsure of where they were going, but holding her steady as she led the way. 

Too soon, they made it to a familiar sight. The girl’s bathroom. 

Percy’s cheeks felt oddly hot. He might be evil, but not enough that he would go into a girl’s bathroom. That was so invasive. 

“Annabeth,” he said desperately. “I can’t go in here.” 

“Relax. We’re not. There’s just less people over here.”

He breathed a sigh of relief before he could stop himself. He was willing to break just about any rule, but the thought of going into the girl’s restroom made him feel wretched. 

Even villains had their limits, it seemed. However he wouldn’t be a real villain until he proved himself as one, and he wasn’t sure that he wanted to.

Wow, okay, that was weird to admit even if only to himself. 

Annabeth let out a strangled sound, and with her hand still clenching onto Percy’s, she slid to the floor. 

He sunk to the floor beside her on his knees, looking at her in concern. “Are you okay? What happened back there?” 

“I, it’s, well, I don’t know,” she eventually decided, although he got the suspicion that she did.

“Are you sure?” he prompted.

She looked at him with red-rimmed eyes. “I’m really sorry, Percy. Really, really sorry. It’s wrong of me. I want to be near you, I do, I really do. But it’s hard, you know.”

Percy bit the inside of his lip, and withdrew his hand, trying to ignore the gasp of pain from her that followed unsuccessfully. “How is it hard? You don’t want to ruin your reputation with someone like me?”

He tried his best to keep his voice neutral, but his best was never good enough. It came out rough, more bitter than he meant. 

Her hand twitched, and she shivered, before pulling the hand that he had just been holding to her stomach, her other hand supporting it. 

“I didn’t mean it like that. It’s not like that. I’m not trying to make myself the victim here—I know I’m not. All my life, I’ve believed that the children of the villains were just as evil as their parents. Even when I was older and Mal came and was good, I struggled to let go of that belief.

“It wasn’t until I met you that I was able to let it go, and even then it’s hard. And I’ve also done this thing where I’ve built a wall on being perfect. Seeing everybody look like that, knowing they were thinking about how I wasn’t as perfect as they thought made me feel like I couldn’t breathe.”

Percy said nothing. 

“I’m sorry, Percy. I’m working on it, I promise. I wanted to hold your hand, but I was nervous, okay? It’s terrifying. Imagine if I was on the Isle with you for some reason, and you were seen with me. Imagine how that would look.”

He nodded acceptantly, imagining the beatings he would have gotten. He would have been lucky to live through the day, and if he did, it would have been misery. 

“I guess I can understand that. They would see me as weak. Being good is like the worst thing you could be.”

Annabeth laughed humorlessly. “Pretty much the opposite here. If my father knew, I don’t know what I’d do. And I’m trying to tell myself that I don’t care, and I don’t. About being near you. But it’s terrifying. It’s stupid, I know, but it’s absolutely terrifying, knowing that my shield of perfection is gone.”

Percy smiled half-heartedly. “I’m sorry that I ruined your life. Guess I’m not worth it. I’m going to go now. Have a good life.” His words didn’t sound angry, instead sad. 

“Percy. Please. I’ll try harder. Please. I’d rather be able to be around you than fit their standard of perfection.

He stopped, and forced himself to look at her, trying to keep it together. Breaking down was not an option. 

Annabeth was crying silently. “I’m sorry,” she repeated.

“I can’t talk about that right now. But I think we should discuss what to do about yesterday.”

Determinedly, she wiped her tears, but the damage was done. He broke everything he touched. 

“I think we should start rumors about it. I tell someone, they tell someone, and so on. Gossip spreads like wildfire at Auradon Prep, and this one’s juicy enough that they’ll take the bait.”

“So we should just outright tell them?”

“Yup,” she confirmed. “I should probably be the one to start it ‘cause they’ll be more likely to believe it from me. Actually, no, I take it back. We need to talk about it and let people overhear.”

“That Snow White is behind the attacks?” he made sure, his voice raw. He wasn’t ready to assume anything at the moment.

They heard a gasp, and a girl skittered out of the bathroom, clearly having heard their conversation. 

“Perfect,” Annabeth said. “That’s a great start.”

“If she heard that, she probably heard other things. Does that mean other rumors will start?”

“Let them,” Annabeth said fiercely. “It might be lost some in the rumors about Snow White, but I don’t care.”

Quick glances were directed at him more than once throughout the day, whispers following the stares. 

Everything tinted red when he overheard one of the whispers. 

“Look. It’s a villain kid. They’ve got to be one of the spies. Stay away from him.” 

Percy sauntered over to the shrimpy boy who was talking and smirked menacingly. When he locked eyes with the boy, he let the smile drop dangerously and pinned the boy to the wall.

“Don’t,” he growled. “Don’t say that. You have no right. Name one Auradon kid who’s been targeted. Go ahead. I dare you. Name one.”

The boy didn’t answer, but that might have been because he was unable to talk. 

Inhaling sharply, Percy moved his hand, and the boy fell to the ground in a heap. 

Percy walked away, but not before hearing the boy muttered raspily, “Do you see what I mean?”

The desire to inflict pain on someone else had never been so strong, but Percy vowed that he wouldn’t hurt someone like he had been hurt. 

He stormed off to blow off some steam and decided he needed a friend right now, no matter how weak it sounded. 

He went down a familiar hall and knocked on Piper’s door. “It’s Percy. Can I come in?” 

“I guess,” came the weak, tired response. She didn’t sound like Piper anymore. 

“Okay,” he said softly and opened the door. 

Piper looked like she had been crying, but he pretended like he didn’t notice. 

“Have you heard?”

“Heard what?” Her voice was wary. 

“The rumors. You know, how everyone is debating if it’s true that Snow White is behind the attacks.” His jaw clenched. “They’ve started worrying who’s helping them ‘cause everybody assumes that they were all at this school they have an inside voice.”

Piper flinched. “Oh.”

“Yeah. That’s not even the worst part. They’re saying it’s got to be a VK. Like, do they not realize every victim so far has been a VK? No Auradon kid has been targeted,” he finished bitterly.

“That’s… really unfair,” Piper said, seemingly at a loss for words.

“Tell me about it. Why would we be targeting ourselves?”

Chapter Text

“Annabeth, I need your help.”

She had never heard someone sound so desperate before as now. She was sitting outside, somewhere mostly out of view, doing homework during her Saturday free time. 

Looking at Percy, she saw that his skin was ashy, and he was clutching something tightly in his hands. 

“With what?” she asked hesitantly. “I mean, I’ll help you, of course, but with what?”

“I got a letter.” 

The words chilled her, goosebumps rising on her arms. It made her think of her own stack of letters hiding in her dresser, but she got the suspicion that it wasn’t like that for Percy.

“Show me.”

His eyes darted from her eyes to the piece of paper in his hands, and a beat passed before he handed her the letter. 

It was in every way different than Sincerely Yours’ letters. The paper was plain white, fresh and new, looking oddly regal for a letter.

The words were printed carefully with a printer rather than handwriting. 

Percy, son of Ursula and Hades, 

You’re next. I warn you because I have no doubt that you cannot protect nor hide yourself from me. Try to show this to someone else, go ahead, I dare you. It will make but a harder challenge. Can’t wait to kill you! 

“Can’t wait to kill you,” Annabeth read out loud furiously. “Written like she’s saying can’t wait to see you again. This is so terrible.”

Percy shrugged in an attempt to make it seem like he didn’t care. “I guess. Not the worst I’ve gotten, you know.”

“No, I did not know. Percy, that is horrifying.”

“Ask anybody from the Isle if they’ve ever gotten a death threat, Princess. I guarantee you they’ll all say yes. That’s not what I’m worried about.”

“Yeah, well, this is something you should definitely be worried about,” Annabeth burst out. “And if you’re not worried about it why are you bringing it to me?”

He shrugged again. “I need help finding out who’s helping Snow White. I’m almost positive that she didn’t write this note.”

“Why did you look so worried and desperate if you weren’t scared of the letter,” she demanded, not willing to let this go.

“It’s just memories, you know.” He moved to shrug again, but she placed her hand on his shoulders before he could.

“It’s okay to be upset. A death threat is reasonable to be upset over.”

His expression was aghast, horrified at the suggestion. “I most certainly can not. What do you expect me to do, cry?”

He said cry like it was the most filthy word to exist. 

Annabeth frowned. “Nobody else is around here, and I’m not going to judge you for crying. So you can if you want.”

“No, I cannot. That’s like a death sentence.”

“No, it’s not,” she exclaimed, growing frustrated. 

“I’m not going to cry. If I was in the Isle, I would have actually been murdered for that.”

Annabeth put her hand to her mouth in shock. “No. That can’t be true. It’s not, is it?”

“It kinda is,” he said like she was a little kid. 

“Percy?” she asked.

“What?”

“Can I ask you something crazy?”

“You’re not going to propose, right? I heard that was in your DNA.”

She laughed half-heartedly. “No, actually that was Hans who is not biologically related to me.”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. Carry on, then.” 

“Can I hug you?” 

He stilled the instant she breathed the words, and she almost was tempted to take it back and say it was stupid, but she held her ground. He could say no, but she wasn’t going to back out on the offer.

“Okay,” he whispered so quietly that she almost didn’t hear him.

He made no movement closer to her, and she had been the one to ask to hug him, so she swallowed, and took a step closer to him. 

They were so close that she could feel his breath against her forehead, not a word passing between them. 

All it would take was for her to tilt her head upwards for their lips to be touching, but he had asked for a hug and was determined not to take more than that before he was ready.

She wasn’t ready. This had come on her too soon. If someone had told her this a few months ago that she was tempted to kiss him, she would have slammed the door in their face if she had one. Or laughed at them. 

Without letting herself give it another thought, she wrapped her arms around him, slowly, giving him time to pull away.

He stiffened, before sinking into her hug. His face buried into her shoulder and his arms returned the hug, his fingers pressing into her back. 

“I think is the first time I’ve been hugged before,” he mumbled into her shoulder, and her heart broke for him. 

“Well,” she responded into his hair, “I guess I’m going to have to make it up to you, then, with lots of hugs to make up for the absence of them.”

“That’s cheesy,” he said with a laugh, but he sounded immensely happy as they stayed that way, neither of them daring to pull away.

“I don’t mind.”

“Neither do I,” he agreed. His fingers tangled in her hair and played with it. 

Annabeth didn’t know how to describe this, both the sensation of hugging him and the feelings inside her, as anything other than warm. 

Her heart was beating rapidly, and they were so close that she was sure he could feel it. 

It was seriously taking a lot of effort to not blurt out that she loved him or kiss him. Which would be worse? They would both be pretty mortifying, and this was not the time. Right now, she was comforting him as a friend. 

Other things could come later.

After what could have been forever or a few minutes, either way not long enough, a shaky sigh escaped Percy.

“Thank you. I— That helped.” 

He offered a devastating half-smile that she could tell was genuine. It was different than his usual smirk. 

“Of course. But we still need to do something about it. A death threat is not okay. I’m not going to let you die on my watch,” she promised, her voice wavering. 

She could have sworn that she saw his eyes fill briefly, but she didn’t mention it, and he showed no further signs of crying. 

He stood and looked to the left deliberately so his eyes wouldn’t meet hers. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pestered you about it in the first place.”

“Percy.” She placed her hand on his cheek and angled his face so that he was looking at her. The pain in his eyes washed over her and she felt like she was drowning. “Look at me.”

“I’m looking,” he murmured.

“Yes, you should have. You’re allowed to have feelings. It’s okay to be scared or sad. That doesn’t make you weak. And I’m serious, you’re not going to die if I get any say.”

“So bossy,” he teased, but his voice was lower than usual, lacking the normal jest. “Just like a princess.”

She put her hands on her hips mockingly. “I am a princess, and I am commanding you not to die.” 

“Understood.” 

She patted the ground beside her. “Sit beside me a little longer. Please.”

“Got to do what the Princess says, don’t I?”

Her voice was serious as she assured him, “It doesn’t matter what someone’s rank is, if you are told to do something wrong, don’t listen. If they say you’re worthless, don’t listen. You aren’t worthless or weak. In fact, you’re quite the opposite.” 

“You don’t need to say that. Did someone tell you to be nice to me all the sudden? Is that what this is?”

Her stomach dropped, but she ignored it. “No. You’re the reason I’ve changed my view. There’s no way on earth you could be evil.”

He stood again, and she knew better than to try to get him to sit beside her for the third time. 

“Don’t you understand? I am evil. Me to evilness is like you to being a princess. It just is. Because we inherited from our parents.”

At loss for words, she watched him walk away. Weakly, she called, “If that’s true, that you to evilness is like me to being a princess, then I am no princess.” 

His gaze turned back to her briefly, just long enough that she was sure he had heard her before he slipped out of view. 

He’d turned her world upside down, that was for sure. 

Advanced math was harder to concentrate on after he left, and she was pretty sure that most of her answers were wrong. She had no idea what she’d answered. 

The thing was, she didn’t care. She wasn’t going to check her answers to make them correct.

She.

Didn’t. 

Care.

She slammed her book shut, a loud noise echoing into the silence.

Annabeth not caring about grades was wrong, somehow crazier than falling for Percy. Falling for him shouldn’t have made sense, but it was the most sensible thing to happen to her yet. 

Knowing how he thought of himself made her sick, and she was determined that one day she would help him get through it.

She wouldn’t try to mold him into perfection. Not anymore, like she would have done a while ago. How long ago, she wasn’t sure, but she did know that now she wouldn’t. 

Her mind went back to his letter. The way it so casually said Can’t wait to kill you. Talking more like friendly rivals than someone warning about their upcoming assassination attempt. 

One murder, three attempts. The success rate was 25%, the fail rate 75%. With how unsuccessful this murderer had been—whether Snow White or one of her accomplices—chances were that Percy would be fine.

But those chances were still too overly concerning.

What had life been like back before Percy? It felt so far off. So distant. So irrelevant. 

How had she ever thought she hated him?

A coping mechanism, her mind supplied. A defense. She gaslighted herself into thinking she hated him because she thought she had to.

And, admittedly, they’d started out with a rocky start. Stink bombs were great stories to tell grandchildren about, right?

She couldn’t leave him alone right now. She couldn’t leave him to die by himself. If someone really was trying to kill him, Annabeth wanted to do everything she could to stop it.

Where would he be now? His dorm, perhaps, but she couldn’t outright walk into a boy’s dorm room. That was against the rules. 

But it didn’t hurt to check, and maybe it was high time that she broke some rules. Goody two shoes Annabeth was getting old. Rule breaker might be a little more fun.

No, that was reckless. Annabeth, the girl who wasn’t afraid to do what was right even if it involved breaking the rules. That sounded imperfectly perfect.

She would go to his dorm and look for him because that was what was right. Otherwise, his death was on her hands. 

Maybe she was being paranoid, but a deep dread filled her as she thought of the letter, and she knew with certainty that something bad was about to happen. 

She walked quickly to his room, and right outside his dorm her eyes caught the familiar dark curls, and she raced to him, the feeling of apprehension and dread rising.

Except she was too late.

His body stiffened, blood pooling on the ground. 

No.

“Percy!” she screamed, the world slowing as she waited for the inevitable. 

Relief swam through her as she saw that it was only his leg. That could be recovered. If they had to, it could be amputated, but she didn’t think he would die.

The relief didn’t last long as a second knife buried itself in his stomach, and she hoped beyond hope it hadn’t penetrated his heart.

Chapter Text

Pain erupted in Percy’s leg like fire. A feeling he would never get used to even if this wasn’t the first time. 

He felt the knife lodged in his leg, and spared it a glance before sickened by the sight, switching his attention to find the assassin. 

Looking up, his eyes locked with Piper. 

Fear widened her red-rimmed eyes as they looked at each other, her with a second knife in her hand.

It was Piper. She was the inside help. 

Panic swirled through him, as he clutched his wound, blood warm on his hands. He was going to pass out, and his best friend was right there. And she had been the one to throw the knife at him. 

Her look hardened, but not before he caught the guilt in her expression as his worst fear was confirmed. 

Silver caught his attention, and it was the last thing he saw before pain akin to that in his leg exploded in his stomach. 

Black spots spattered his vision like paint. 

He wasn’t sure where he was now. Before, he had been standing, hadn’t he? But now, there was cold floor against his back. He was in front of his dorm, right?

Fading, slipping away. The life might not be in him for much longer. Someone had threatened him, and kept to the threat.

Who was it?

Snow White had been the evil one, he thought, but he didn’t think she had sent it.

Ever-shifting eyes widening in horror planted in his mind, and he remembered. 

Piper. 

She was the one who tried to kill him, maybe she was the one who wrote the letter. 

Nobody would ever stay. Never had, never would. What was the point of trying to hang out to life in this world? 

Let go. He was letting go. It was time to see his father. 

“Percy! Percy, wake up,” a familiar voice yelled in his ear.

He shook his head, or tried to, at least. He didn’t remember how to move. “No,” he murmured, “I’m going to die.”

“I told you, I’m not going to let you die.”

What? Who was speaking? He opened his eyes, and gray eyes stared back at him. 

Oh. Annabeth. 

“What if I told you I want to die?” he managed to get out. Every word hurt. 

“Then I’d tell you too bad, ‘cause you’re not going to die. It didn’t pierce your heart or anywhere else too important, I don’t think. It’s just in your stomach.”

“And my leg,” he added, dazed. She had to understand that his leg hurt too, although it was kind of going numb. “My leg too.”

“Yeah. And you’re leg. As long as you don’t bleed out, you’ll be fine. I don’t want to move you in case that means more blood. I’ll get somebody. Jason and Piper, they can help. Rachel too. And we’ll find the healer.”

“No.”

“No what? Percy, you have to be okay. We’re going to make you okay.” 

He was shaking, or maybe she was shaking. Probably the latter, because the rest of him wasn’t shaking except for the hand that was holding on to hers. 

Tears were streaming down her cheeks. She cried a lot. Maybe not a lot. More than Percy did. They had just talked about this, hadn’t they? 

She said it was okay to cry, but it never was. Nothing was ever okay.

Nothing was okay. 

“Not what I said.” His voice was low, and he figured death was close. Please, he begged inwardly, just leave me alone so I can go to sleep.

“Then what were you trying to say?”

“Not Piper. She hurt me. Her fault. Not Piper.”

Annabeth’s voice was cold, but everything was cold. And warm. “What?” 

“Nobody. Nobody but the doctor. She hurt me.” 

“Who did?”

“Piper.” 

Why did she not understand?

“Okay,” Annabeth said levelly, but her voice was laced with a faint trace of venom.

Was there venom in his leg? Or stomach? Like with Jay. Was it venom or poison? 

“Leave me. Find doctor.” 

He was ready to be alone so he could die in peace without her pestering him to live. She didn’t care. Piper hadn’t cared; she’d wanted him dead.

No one cared, and now, neither did he.

His eyes drifted shut as Annabeth walked away. Probably. Why wouldn’t she? Everyone did. He wanted her to. 

There was no sounds, no anything, except faint clicking sounds that must have been miles away. 

“What’s your favorite color?”

The words drove him from the peaceful emptiness. A girl’s voice. Annabeth. Unless it was Piper, ready to finish out the job. He would have laughed if he could, because it was clear he didn’t need anymore help to die. 

No, Piper’s voice was different. This was Annabeth.

“Why?” he croaked, a faint feeling of déjà vu rising. 

“Small talk, you know. Auradon style. What’s your favorite color?”

“Blue,” he managed.

“Figures.”

“Why?”

“Cause you dyed your hair blue.”

“Oh. Before. Yours?”

He dimly registered her smile as he fought to stay awake. 

“My favorite color is green.”

He remembered that. She’d told him that before. They’d talked about this before. 

A lazy smile tried to work his way onto his face.

“Because of me?” His words were slurred, but hopefully she understood. 

“Want to know a secret?”

Everything hurt and he really wanted to go to sleep, but he made a sound fintly resembling yes.  

“You’re right. When I first saw your eyes, I realized how beautiful green was. Since then, other colors have paled in comparison.”

“Okay.”

A new voice. A guy’s this time. He was blurry, but the features looked faintly familiar. 

“Wow. Okay. Piper was definitely not worth it. Now our secrets are revealed. Although to be honest, I was waiting for that.”

“Jason?” Annabeth asked shakily. “You wouldn’t. What are you doing?”

“None of these villains belong here.”

Yeah, sleep sounded really good. Arguments later. Or never. Death now. 

“You realize this makes you the villain, right?”

Who was Annabeth talking to? Jason? That was her cousin, right? Why would Jason be a villain?

Jason said something, but the world was fading and Percy was spinning. The words didn’t reach him. Nothing could, now. Only death. 

Something made contact with his stomach, a leg perhaps, and pain exploded, darkness finally coming to save him from the unbearable pain.

The knife was pink. Percy didn’t understand why it was pink, but the knife aimed toward him was pink.

The knife touched his skin and erupted in blue flames, and he watched as his skin burned briefly before the flames went down. 

Finally, when it finished implanting itself in his bone, it turned its final color. 

Red. Dark like blood, dampened with his. So much blood. 

It was a wonderful sensation, the feeling of it. He could look at it and see that he was going to die soon because that was a lot of blood.

Too much blood for him to live. 

He dug the now-red dagger out of his leg, and blood stained his hands like gloves. 

Those blood-stained hands held power, and without a second thought, he plunged the knife right into his stomach. 

It didn’t hurt, surprisingly. Though, it hadn’t when it dug into his leg, either. 

He twisted the dagger once, twice, and a final time, shifting his rib ever so slightly.

Percy wanted to laugh. It didn’t hurt. He was dying, and it didn’t hurt. It should have hurt. But it didn’t.  

This wasn’t enough. It needed to be more for him to die. He tore the dagger out of his stomach, and something shiny coated it.

Was it blood? No. Blood was darker than that. Whatever it was had a silver gleam that resembled a normal dagger.

What was normal, at this point?

Nothing. Everything.

Someone was speaking, but he couldn’t hear them. Someone. It was a girl. She had waist-length curls the color of buttercups and stormy gray eyes that showed an entire life yet nothing at all. 

“You’re beautiful,” he breathed, and it was true, but she didn’t react. She kept on speaking, but he still couldn’t hear. Maybe she was talking to someone else.

Maybe she was a world away. 

To distract himself from the pretty girl, he took out the blood-red knife from his skin and made a rash decision. 

The knife was glowing red, all the way to the handle. 

He brought it close to his right eye and stared at it for hardly more than a moment. This was where the rash decision came into hand.

The knife, prompted by his hand, jutted into his eye. It moved quickly, like slicing through butter. Actually, butter didn’t slice that easily unless it was room temperature. 

It sliced through his eye like room-temperature butter. He wedged his knife into the last bit of it, and pulled back with all his might, the eye falling onto the floor.

His left eye watched his right eye roll on the floor, and he laughed, before taking out his other eye.

Blessed but terrifying blackness took the place of a world once filled with beautiful things like that girl. 

Someone was saying his name. “Percy.” He’d forgotten that was his name. Where was he? 

The girl from before was here, and this time he was able to recognize her. “Annabeth.”

She stared at him in surprise. Then she was crying, and gave him a tight hug. It hurt, but felt good, too.

“You’re awake.”

“Awake? That was a dream? I didn’t stab my leg and stomach, didn’t gauge my own eyes out?”

She flinched. “Nothing happened to your eyes, but the rest of it. It happened, but you’re not the one who did it.”

“Then who?”

Even before she said it, he remembered. The name came to mind the same moment she spoke it. “Piper. 

He swallowed. “Okay. And there was someone else.”

“Jason,” she said quietly. “He and Piper were the inside voices. They were helping Snow White kill us.” 

A wave of fury so fierce it felt like it would knock Percy over hit him. Piper had betrayed him. So had Jason, but Piper hurt worse. 

Just a few days ago, or maybe more days now, depending on how long he had been sleeping, he had told her that he couldn’t believe everyone was blaming everything on them, on the VK’s, yet she was actually behind it. 

“I want to kill them. They deserve it.”

“Oh, Percy. You can’t. You’re better than that. And besides, you can’t get out of bed yet. You were just stabbed and almost died. Give yourself a break. Hunt down people later, okay?” The last part clearly was supposed to be a joke, but her voice wavered. 

A deep choking sound came from him, and he realized he was crying. Panic instantly engulfed him, but he was brought back to sanity when he felt a small, warm hand slip into his. 

“It’s okay.”

It’s okay. Was it okay?

His fingers itched to do something, to write something. 

He wanted to send her a letter. He wanted to tell her how much he loved her, something he didn’t even realize until now, something he couldn’t tell her here. Because he was a coward.

That was when it hit him. 

She didn’t know. All those letters he’d sent were from someone else as far as she was concerned.

Those letters connected them too much for him to continue without her not knowing. 

It was now or never. He still wasn’t convinced that he would live through the night, and if he did, how did he know Annabeth would?

“I have to tell you something.”

“Go on,” she said hesitantly.

“I’m the one who sent you all those letters,” he confessed. Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened to say something, but he cut her off. He had to finish. “It had started out as a prank. I wanted you to fall in love with me. I wanted you to fall in love with a VK.”

“You’re Sincerely Yours,” she said quietly enough that he was basically reading her lips. “You’re Sincerely Yours and I fell for your lies.” 

Chapter Text

Guilt. Earth-shattering guilt. 

Percy was Piper’s best friend, and yet she had tried to kill him. 

She couldn’t breathe as she closed her eyes to hide the image of Percy lying on the ground in a pool of blood, but that only made it more vivid. 

It would forever be ingrained in her mind. 

When his eyes met hers, his eyes widening in shock, before everything that made Percy Percy fell away, and a hopeless shell about to die remained in his place.

She had tried to avoid killing him the best that she could, had tried to miss his heart. But there was no promise he hadn’t lost too much blood. 

Because of her. The daughter of Mother Gothel and Jasper, side-kick to Cruella. She killed Carlos, her half-brother, who theoretically had no idea they were related.

She had killed her father. 

Now she killed her best friend.

Who was next? Why couldn’t she stop killing?

The first, her father, was an accident, though she had wanted him dead. She hadn’t wanted to kill Carlos but felt no pain when he was gone. Horror, but no pain.

Selfish. She was selfish.

Yesterday, Jason had knocked on her door, and she had been excited to see him. 

“Piper? You in here?”

“Jason!” she’d exclaimed and hurriedly opened the door for him. 

He hugged her, and spun her around, kissing her before she could get out another word. 

She’d looked at him breathlessly when they separated and watched his face grow serious. 

Dread filled her, as she waited for the inevitable. Percy was next, she was sure of it. 

“I need you to kill Percy.”

Her hands shook as her mind reenacted yesterday, and she did her best to shove the memory away. To hide how it felt knowing she was going to kill Percy.

That was the first time that it felt like she was more power-hungry than world-saving. The first time the suspicion crept into her mind that Jason might not have been as innocent and heroic as she had led herself to believe. 

But she was too far in now. She knew that if she refused, Percy would be killed anyway, but not until he knew what she had done. 

The fact that she had contemplated it alone made her so frustrated she wanted to scream, but that wasn’t all she had done. She had no idea whether or not she had killed him, but she’d at least tried to, and now she was definitely evil.

She had been evil ever since she wanted her father dead so much that she’d killed him. 

What is wrong with me? she thought, inwardly screaming, as she dug into her fingers in an attempt to punish herself.

Piper deserved it after all that she had done. 

She lifted her fist and brought it down on her stomach as hard as she could. Hardly any pain. Subconsciously, she had tensed, and now there was hardly any damage down.

Her fingers threaded through her hair, and she tugged on it, desperate to cause as much pain as she could.

She deserved it.

It should have been her that died. Not Percy, not Carlos, not her dad. Jay and Harry shouldn’t have been hurt.

All of this was her fault. 

She collapsed to the ground and slammed her fists against the ground. She bit her lip so hard it drew blood as she stared at the wall, wishing she had been the one to be stabbed.

They would know. They would know. Security hadn’t been disabled. Jason had told her that it was time everybody knew who was behind this, and it would be explained to everybody that VKs were the problem, and it had been a necessary sin to take them out.

Those words had chilled her as she reminded him that she was a VK.

But he’d kissed her again, and told her she was different. Not like the others. 

A hand was on her shoulder, and she turned, braced to fight. Right before she made contact with whoever it was, Jason caught her arm, and kissed the inside of her wrist. 

“It’s me.”

“I killed him,” she managed through broken sobs.

“Are you sure?” he asked, his brows knit together in concern. 

She shook her head, trying her best to slow the sobs. She didn’t deserve to cry. “I don’t know.”

He pulled her into his lap, and stroked her hair. “It’s okay. Shh. It’s okay. It had to happen.”

“No, it didn't!” she burst out, rubbing her temples. “It didn't have to happen. It happened because you told me to do it. If it wasn't for you, it wouldn't have happened. No, it wasn't for me it wouldn't have happened. I wouldn't have killed him. But you told me to do it. I did it and I listened and it…”

A scream of frustration tore from her, and she wanted to do something, to hit something, to destroy everything. 

It was her fault. It wasn’t helpful to blame it on him. She had done it, not him. 

She took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. “It was my fault. Really, truly my fault. But you told me to do it, and that wasn't okay either. You wanted him dead. Both of us, none of us, all of us. It's wrong. It's wrong. It's really wrong. We're evil. Don't you see it, Jason? We're evil.”

“We’re not evil,” he promised. She wanted to believe him, but she couldn’t say she was innocent after all that happened. 

“I’m not a hero for killing Percy. I don’t even know if I did that successfully. I’m not a hero for killing Carlos or hurting Jay and Harry. I’m a villain.”

“You're not evil. I'm not evil. We did what had to be done.” His voice was loud and dangerously low. It wasn't patient, it was angry.

He was mad at her, and rightfully so. Everyone should be mad at her. Everyone should hate her. Jason hated her. That was it. There was no other option. If Percy lived through this, he would hate her. Everybody would hate her. She deserved to be hated.

She hated herself.

“I'll be right back, Piper.”

That was the last thing she heard before she exploded in pain and everything went black. 

Chapter Text

Annabeth clenched her jaw. Snow White was still out there, yet the former king Adam insisted that Percy had a court trial.

At any moment, she was expecting for someone else to go after them. To go after Percy.

That wasn’t fair. How could they possibly think that Percy was behind all this?

The news had leaked that Piper had been behind the murderers. And that Jason was part of it, too. There were more accomplices, surely, but they were the only ones who had been caught by security cameras. 

They watched Piper throw a dagger at Percy twice, nearly killing him, yet they still blamed him? What did they think? That he was trying to be a martyr for his cause and show the VK’s were getting hurt?

What would be the point of that? The others had been VK’s too.

No, it didn't make sense at all. There was no reason for Percy to be prosecuted for this just because he was the child of a villain. 

He couldn't help it to how he had been born.

Jason, the disgusting imbecile who was Jason was evil, and he was the son of one of the most famed heroes of their world, a queen many looked up to. 

Admittedly, after the incident, no one had seen Elsa. She had become holed up in her castle. Few knew what had really happened. 

In a flash of unbearable anger, Annabeth wondered if maybe evilness did pass down. No, that wasn't right either.

She knew that it wasn't Elsa's fault that Anna had died, that it was siren magic that caused it.

Why would Jason do this? It was infuriating, and she was mad at herself for not figuring it out sooner. 

If Jason was the child of someone who was supposedly a hero then why couldn't they understand that Percy wasn't, even if he was the child of a villain?\

Nobody was their parents. A person is separate from their parents.

That was established back when Mal changed the world with Evie, Carlos, and Jay when everything happened with them, but nope.

They couldn't get it through their thick minds that being the child of a villain didn't necessarily make them evil. 

Why could they not understand that?

Annabeth wanted to scream because of how frustrating it was. 

How come they couldn't understand this? Why couldn't they understand this was horrible? Truly despicable. 

She was ashamed that she had ever considered herself to be one of them. Being a child of a villain would be way better than being a child of a princess being stuck here, linked to them. 

Percy wasn't even completely recovered yet. Not even close to being recovered. He was barely alive at this point. And yet, no, they had to put him on trial. He couldn't stand. 

There was a chance still that he could die. It was not as big as before, but he still wasn't all the way safe. Really, Auradon had to be more evil than the Isle because there was no way this place could be considered good.

“Annabeth?”

She swallowed her rage as she looked at Percy, lying in his hospital bed. Every time she looked at him it was a reminder of how close he had come to dying.

It wouldn't have happened if she hadn't let him walk away. If she'd made him stick with her, tt wouldn't have happened.

Realistically, she knew that if she had been there, she would have probably been hurt too. It didn't go past her that Piper had two knives.

But still, it wasn't fair. None of it was fair. It wasn't fair that Percy had been stabbed by his best friend. It wasn't fair that Carlos had died. None of it was fair. 

“Yes?” she answered, reaching for his hand like she did every time he woke up.

“Are you okay?”

“Are you seriously asking me if I'm okay? You're lying in a hospital bed, half dead.”

He laughed, something she couldn't believe he could still do at this time. But it wasn't his first time with bad injuries, with being hurt. The thought sickened her.

Why do people hurt other people? That didn't make sense. Why would someone do that? Why did Piper do that? Why did Hera do that? Why did Ursula do that? Why did anybody do that?

“Yeah, but you look like you're about to kill someone. I should know. I just saw someone who looked like they were about to kill someone like yesterday.”

Annabeth scowled. “That wasn't yesterday. And I'm not about to kill someone.” She took a deep breath. “The king’s dad wants you to have a trial to make sure that you're innocent.”

She was expecting Percy to be as mad as she was, to exclaim, “What? Why?” But his reaction, it wasn't anything like that. It was akin to a kick in the gut.

He just nodded like he'd been expecting it. “Okay.”

“Okay? No, Percy, that's not okay. None of it's okay. How can you just say okay? It's not okay!”

“I'm not saying this is okay. I'm acknowledging what you've said. Did you seriously think anything other than that would happen? Piper is a VK and she is partially behind this.” He stopped speaking and shook for a second.

“Why wouldn't I be? Just because I got hurt? Doesn't make me innocent in their eyes. I heard Jason hurt Piper. How do they know it wouldn't happen with me? How do they know Piper didn't just turn on me because I didn't do whatever weird twisted job I was assigned?”

Percy's anger was simultaneously refreshing and heart-breaking.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t bring my anger out on you. I’m just frustrated because you don’t deserve it.”

“I’m sorry too. I know that you’re not mad at me.”

Annabeth didn’t know what to say to that, so she changed the subject. “Your court trial is tomorrow. You’re going to need a wheelchair.”

“What if I don't wanna go in a wheelchair?”

“You have to. You can't walk. You had a knife go through your leg.” Her words came out bitter and sarcastic, but inside she was crying for him. He didn't deserve to have to be in a wheelchair.

“That doesn't mean I'm incapable.”

“Percy! You almost died. I watched you almost die. You were almost dead. I thought you were dead if you were gonna die, and you're thinking it’s no big deal.”

He attempted to shrug, but winced and stilled, instead grabbing her hands. “I've experienced worse.”

“How can you say that so matter of factly?” Annabeth wanted to cry, but she forced herself to stay calm for him the best she could. Although she hadn’t done so well so far.

“Just how life is.”

“No, it's not. Life isn't dying and people trying to kill you.”

“Yeah, well, mine is, so I'm not surprised. I'm used to it. This isn't the first time I've come close to death and I'm sure it won't be the last. I didn't die, so it's not a big deal. If I have to, I can ride in a wheelchair, but I'm done with your sympathy.” 

“It’s not sympathy. I’m worried because I care about you. Why do you think I’ve not left your side for the last few days?”

Percy was placed inside the wheelchair and sink, and this way felt wrong. He wasn't the same person he'd been before. He looked weak and small.

Apparently the “court trial,” she'd overheard about wasn't as big a deal as she had thought. Instead, Percy was just being taken. To be interrogated, kind of, by the Council.

Annabeth had insisted that she go with him initially. Adam had been against it, but King Ben had advocated for her. For which she would be grateful. Mal too. It was nice to know that there was support for the VKs here. King Ben was a good place to start considering he was planning on marrying a VK.

What was shocking was that Adam demanded they make sure Percy’s not evil. He was okay with Mal and her friends, but not Percy. Biased much?

On the bright side, at least she was allowed to go with him and at least it wasn't a full-out court case. Legally, Percy was a minor and they can only do so much with him anyway.

Piper and Jason were currently being held in the dungeon, but that wouldn't last for long.

They would be sent somewhere else until they turned 18. Then they would be in prison for another few years. Not surprisingly, Piper got a whole lot more years than Jason.

It was true that Piper was the one who had killed Carlos.

But Jason was still an accomplice. If Smee was trapped in the Isle because of helping Hook, Jason deserves to have just as much punishment as Piper, especially considering that he most definitely was not a sidekick in this. 

Chances were he was the one leading it and had just convinced Piper to follow him.

Once upon a time, Annabeth had thought Jason was weak. But he wasn’t. That was an act. He was definitely charming, though, something she had known for a long time. 

She wished that Piper had not fallen for his tricks. Annabeth wished that she herself had not fallen for her cousin’s tricks. She hadn't even considered him. Pretty much everybody else at school, she'd wondered briefly if they were aiding Snow White, but not Jason.

Jason was the last person she would have thought to do such a thing. 

Annabeth pushed Percy in his wheelchair to the room they had been instructed and took his hand while they settled. 

She didn’t make it long hearing the accusations before she interrupted, not being able to stand any more of this. Even if it was terrifying.

“I know that Percy is innocent. He’s not who you should worry about.” Annabeth paused a second and pointed at Snow White accusingly. “She’s behind this. We saw her.”

She tightened her grip on Percy’s hand, and whispered, “I’m not afraid for them to think I’m not perfect anymore.”

She caught the start of his smile but forced herself to pay attention to what was going on. 

“And you didn’t think to tell us about that?” Adam said furiously. 

She didn’t flinch. “Didn’t think you’d believe me. You’re showing now that’s true.”

“How dare you speak to me that way?”

“I’m speaking the truth. Snow White is evil, and is the mastermind behind this plan to kill VK’s.”

“Where’s your proof?” Adam demanded.

Snow White blinked innocently. “I didn’t do anything. How do we know you and your little friends aren’t behind this? You’re quite close to that young man, aren’t you?”

“Actually,” Bashful piped up, blushing, “Snow White’s lying. The girl is right. I witnessed it.”

Thank you, Bashful! Annabeth thought, wishing she could say it out loud. 

Doc nodded, sorrow in his eyes. “We all did.” He gestured to the other dwarfs, who each nodded in turn and agreed, except Happy who was practically seething in anger.

“How dare you out her?” Happy spit out. “Out us?” 

“Because it’s what’s right!” Sneezy said in the middle of a huge sneeze. 

Adam’s jaw tightened. “How do we know all of you aren’t lying?”

Ben clapped his hands together loudly, drawing everybody’s attention. “We will make Percy and Snow White each take a truth potion to see who’s innocent.” 

Snow White’s innocent look had faded to one of rage as two potions were given, one to each of them. “I can’t believe you’re even considering this.”

Percy took his easily, but Snow White tried to make it seem like she took it without actually taking it. 

Ben noticed, thankfully, and she was forced to take it. 

“Percy, did you have any part in these murders?”

“I did not.”

“Snow White, did you have any part in these murders?”

She snorted. “Duh. You’re all too stupid to get it. Do you know what Evil Queen did to me? She tried to murder me. I was trying to stop these VK’s before they got the same chance.”

“It’s settled, then,” Ben declared.

Snow White was taken to the dungeon, screaming and cursing in rage the whole way.

Chapter Text

One week. 

One week since Percy had been, for lack of better words, impaled.

Now, everything had changed. 

Seven days.

It felt like a lot longer than that.

A week ago, he was ridiculously terrified because Snow White was evil and no one would believe him, and how was he supposed to deal with this as a sixteen-year-old child of a villain?

Then, he was even more ridiculously terrified because of a stupid letter. If only he had known. 

Piper. 

Every single encounter with her, he had run through his mind. Every smile they shared, prank they pulled. All of it, was it fake? 

It didn’t feel fake.

It had to have been fake.

That would make a good conversation starter, actually: “Oh, yeah, my best friend tried to kill me. But that’s like whatever. Anyway, enough about me.”

Yeah, great way to break the ice. 

The doctors smiled at him, in a way that made him want to punch something. There was something he had heard rumors of back in the Isle, and once managed to try here.

Syrup.

It was disgustingly sweet. 

That was how their smiles felt. Like syrup.

They told him that he was recovering at an almost inhuman speed.

Technically, he wasn’t 100% human, so it somewhat made sense for him to heal faster than a complete mortal. 

Was it wrong of him that he wished that it had caused more damage? Like, the fact that he was coming out of this with nothing more than a few token scars was messed up. 

His mind was a battlefield at the moment, and his body just felt completely out of the loop. Even if he wasn’t all the way healed yet and couldn’t walk, knowing that his mind would never recover even though his body would felt wrong.

The fact that he could come out of this and recover was wrong. There had to be a limit. There had to be a time when Hades decided to give in and take him.

Percy had a morbid idea that Hades might have had a hand in this. He was a freaking god. How far-fetched would it be for his life to be slightly protected? 

The weird part of that was the fact Hades had cared about him enough to try to protect him. 

Nobody cared about him.

He wasn’t worth anybody caring about him.

It was foolish to think Hades had protected him. It was a coincidence, nothing more.

Honestly, he should have died. He should have. It would have been easier for everybody. Instead, he was taking up time from the doctors, and—

No, he was going to stop. He didn’t die, and that had happened for a reason. Dwelling on it wasn’t helpful.

And it was the doctors’ job to take care of people, so why did it matter that it was him?

That’s what Annabeth told him, and she was upset when he didn’t believe her, so he was determined to believe her. Even if it was hard. 

For the last week, Annabeth had stayed with him. All the time. She hardly left the medical room, and constantly sat in the chair beside his bed. Sometimes she was convinced to go to her dorm to sleep, but other than small breaks, she stayed with him. 

Probably noticing his distress, Annabeth took his hand, something she had done a lot recently. “Percy? You doing okay?” 

“Yeah,” he said, but he wasn’t sure if he was. If he ever would. Would life ever become like the stories of the people here, a life not plagued with trusting nobody? With having nobody that cared about him? 

Annabeth tightened her grip on his hand, and he got the suspicion that she was reading his every thought. It was weird, but it was like she always could tell what was on his mind.

“What’s your favorite number?” she asked. Over the last week, she had asked him a lot of questions. Mostly what his favorite of everything was. 

She would ask the most absurd things, but every time she came back to asking what his favorite color was. Day after day, she asked him what his favorite color was, and day after day he told her blue.

Day after day, she answered that her favorite color was green, and in turn, he asked why. Every time she told him that it was because of him.

Whenever she said that it made him feel lightheaded. Something was happening between them, but he was nervous to push it. If he got too attached, how did he know she wouldn’t leave him? 

“Percy, you there?”

He shook his head as he brought himself back to present time, then switched to a nod. 

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “Um, yeah, I’m here.”

“What’s your favorite number?” she repeated patiently. 

His eyes darted to their hands, and momentarily he was distracted by how perfectly their hands fit together, but he forced himself to focus on the question. 

“I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it.” 

“Then take a moment to think about it.”

He couldn’t do that. Whenever he did that, his mind would wander, and he would become lost. When he was left alone to think, it was hard to come out of the maze that was his mind. 

“I think I like two,” he decided as quickly as he could. Two. That way neither number was alone. 

She smiled. “That’s a nice number. I like 144.”

“Why 144?”

“It’s the 12th number in the Fibonacci sequence. And it’s twelve times twelve. Overall it’s just a solid number, you know.”

“Wow, who knew you were such a nerd?” Percy joked.

“I take that as a compliment.”

“Don’t worry, being a nerd is hot.”

Her cheeks reddened and he was trying really hard to not get distracted and fall for her because that was just about the worst thing he could do. She wasn’t making it easy with how adorable she was.

“Does that mean I’m hot?”

He contemplated answering that for exactly one second before deciding that it was too funny to flirt with her to pass it up. 

“The hottest.”

Her cheeks brightened even more to agree with his words. 

“Can I ask you a question, Princess?”

“You just did, but sure.”

“Always the smarty pants.” His teasing manner dropped as seriousness took its place. “Would I be able to see Piper? To visit her?”

Her smile faded, and her eyes tinted with worry. “I don’t know. Percy, you can’t even walk.”

“I don’t care. If they gave me a cane, I’m sure I could figure it out.”

“The dungeon has a lot of stairs. I don’t know if you could do it. Or if you would be allowed to visit. I mean, probably you could, but not until you’re fully recovered.” 

“Please? She’s leaving soon, isn’t she? She’s going somewhere else. If I don’t talk to her now, I never will.”

Annabeth sighed, and he hated himself for burdening her. “I can see what I can figure out.”

“Thank you.” 

His eyes moved to her lips for a second, and he was mad at himself for feeling the temptation to kiss her. He couldn’t do that. 

Why was that so hard for him to remember?

Somehow, it had managed to work out. His spontaneous decision yesterday to ask Annabeth to figure out if he could visit Piper had worked out. 

He was still in his wheelchair. Apparently, they had an elevator, which was super weird. Percy hadn’t even known they had a dungeon. 

It was lucky that both Jason and Piper were sixteen, or else they wouldn’t have been allowed to be in the dungeon for a week and would have already been moved. 

He didn’t completely understand the rules. They would stay here until they could secure arrangements for a teenager prison thing until they were eighteen, where they would then serve the rest of their prison years in an adult prison.

It also didn’t make sense why the school had a dungeon. What happened to all the villains having been banished and Auradon being safe? Maybe it was an older castle, but it was still weird.

Especially since minors weren’t supposed to be kept there. Why did they have a dungeon for kids who wouldn’t be allowed to be imprisoned there longer than a week or two? 

The ride down the elevator with the guards made Percy feel like he was choking. It was weird knowing that he was going underground.

Piper and Jason had been underground for a week.

Why had Jason let himself be caught on camera? He wanted people to know what was happening, but it still felt like there was more going on. 

He was planning something else. He had to be. The thing was that Snow White had also been imprisoned, and that couldn’t have been part of their plan. 

Unless they had more help that was secret. Anybody Percy knew could be assisting in the attacks. 

The elevator dinged, and he couldn’t shake his nervousness. Did he really want to do this? 

It was too late to back down now. That would be cowardly. He had to find out why Piper had done this.  

Why she had tried to kill him. Why she had killed Carlos. So many questions, so few answers.

He needed those answers.

“You have twenty minutes,” a guard warned him.

Twenty minutes. There was no way he could fit all his questions in twenty minutes. But he was grateful he had got any time at all. 

His leg throbbed, and his stomach pulsed painfully. A reminder of what Piper had done to him. 

He wasn’t able to wear baggy clothes or carry anything with him. He was given a chair to sit in front of her cell. 

Piper’s eyes lit up when she saw him. “Percy!” The moment the words left her mouth, memories seemed to solidify in her mind and her expression dropped to neutral. 

“Piper,” he greeted with no inflection. 

“You’re okay.”

“Regardless of your wishes.”

She flinched. “I didn’t want to kill you. I tried really hard not to. I just—”

“I’m not interested in hearing your excuses. We only have a little bit of time. Why did you do it?”

A beat of silence passed, and he wasn’t sure that she would answer. After a long pause, she told him, “Because of Jason. Jason told me that VK’s didn’t belong here, and I knew that firsthand. Nobody was welcoming. In fact, they were hostile. I didn’t belong here.”

“What does that have to do with killing people?” Percy interrupted. 

“I didn’t want to do it. But Jason told me that it was necessary for our plan to work. We needed to create the boundaries again, and I would just make it so that it wasn’t such a horrible place back at home.”

The way she said home ticked him off. The Isle wasn’t home. It was a prison just as much as they one they were in now.

She continued with a shaky breath. “He told me that I could help. If I made those few sacrifices, I could make it better. He was going to be the king, and he offered…”

Piper trailed off and blinked furiously.

“Just tell me,” Percy said warily. “We’re almost out of time.”

“I was so stupid. He offered for me to be his queen.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. I felt really foolish when he knocked me out in the hallway. I was just his pawn.”

Percy frowned. “You still did wrong. You killed someone.”

She smiled sadly. “I know.”

“Carlos deserved to live.”

“I know,” she repeated, this time more furiously. “I’m sorry, okay? I can’t go back and change it. I can’t change what I did. What do you want me to do about it?”

“I don’t know. I wish it hadn’t happened.” 

He was so tired. This had been a lot. It had been harder than he had expected. 

“Me too,” she agreed. 

“Time’s up!” a guard declared. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m really, really sorry.”

He didn’t answer, instead wheeling himself back to the guard. Piper hadn’t tried to kill him out of hatred. That didn’t make it any better, but he was glad that he knew that now.

Maybe it was possible to have people that cared for him. Right now, that could not be Piper, but it might be okay to let himself care for Annabeth. Maybe.

Chapter Text

Annabeth loved Percy. She had never been so sure of anything as she was of this. 

She loved the letters he had written her, even if they were all lies. And she wasn’t going to give him up. 

She loved his trademark smirk that he wore more often than not. 

She loved his beautiful green eyes that were the most wonderful color she had ever seen.

She loved his sense of humor.

She loved the way his eyes crinkled when he laughed.

She loved him.

“Percy?” she asked one day, interrupting one of their many conversations. The ones where she asked him about everything because she wanted to know every last detail about him. 

Not knowing everything about him felt like a crime, and she was determined to fix that.

“Here!” he exclaimed loudly, a slow grin melting across his face as he winked, sending butterflies rippling through her stomach.

She had to do this.

“Can we talk?”

He tapped his chin, pretending like he was thinking about it. “Isn’t that what we’re doing now?”

Annabeth exhaled a breath. “Well, yeah, but can we talk about something important?”

His face straightened as the joking persona fell away. “Of course. About what?”

Breathe, she reminded herself. 

“Us.”

His eyes widened. “Oh.”

“We don’t have to,” she blurted, before determinedly adding, “Actually we do. But not right now if you’re not ready for that.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?” 

“Okay we can talk. About us.”

“Oh,” Annabeth said. “Okay.”

“What about us do you want to talk about?”

Again, she reminded herself to breathe. None of this would be helpful if she passed out halfway through the conversation because she couldn’t get her lungs to cooperate. 

“First, why did you send me the letters? Why did you do it?”

He blinked slowly and slightly resembled a deer caught in a headlight. “You acted so much better than us, and like we were trash just because of where we came from.”

Those words shouldn’t have hurt her, because she had thought that. But it still felt like a punch to the gut as she remembered how she had acted before.

“I decided that I wanted to do another prank, and a not-so-brilliant brilliant idea came to me. I could try to make you fall in love with me, without you ever knowing it was me.”

She tried her best to keep her voice neutral. “So Sincerely Yours—you—didn’t mean anything you wrote?” 

“At the start, I didn’t. Towards the end, well, it wasn’t so hard to come up with stuff, you know.”

Her heart fluttered as her mind took his words and put them under a microscope to analyze and dissect. 

“Okay.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he blurted. “I wasn’t expecting you to actually fall for me.”

Tears pricked Annabeth’s eyes, but she refused to let them fall as she confessed bitterly, “Well, too bad, 'cause I already did.”

The look on his face was comical, and he genuinely looked like he didn’t, couldn’t believe her. 

“Why do you say Sincerely Yours?”

“Because of how you sign it. Sincerely, Yours. I figured it was easier to make it a pseudonym for you than to think of you as my secret admirer who keeps sending me love letters.”

“You’re right. Sincerely Yours does sound better.” 

“Yeah.”

“Actually, I decided to write you a new letter. I’ve just been afraid to give it to you.” He looked bashful at admitting he was afraid, but she was proud of his progress. 

“Is it genuine? Like, from you or from Sincerely Yours?”

Their hands were connected like they often were these days. She hadn’t even realized, until now, feeling his hands shake. He really was nervous about this. 

“From me. All the way from me. And I promise you that I mean every word.”

He handed her a folded piece of paper. 

Annabeth, 

So. You know who I am. I guess the farce is up. I’m sorry for lying to you, really, I am. The person I was then is different from who I am now. It’s funny how letting yourself be good changes you. Though, I can’t promise I will never prank again. That would be like asking me to never eat again. 

I wrote lots of things throughout your letters from me. I didn’t always mean them then, but everything I wrote would apply to the now. Even if it was ridiculously and painfully cheesy. I guess I am starting to fit in here. 

The thing is, I have been trying to convince myself that I don’t, but it’s impossible—I have fully and completely fallen for you, and that’s not easy to make it go away. It’s not even that I’m “in love” with you. Can I tell you something crazy? I love you. 

I love you so much that you’re my last thought before I go to bed, and my first when I wake up. You’ve invaded my mind, and it’s impossible to think of anything else. 

These last few weeks have changed everything. My life went to literal hell, which says a lot because I’ve actually visited the Underworld before. I almost died. And the worst part is that my best friend is the one that impaled me. 

They sometimes show cartoon remakes of all your parent’s lives on the Isle, and it reminds me a quote from Olaf. “Oh look, I’ve been impaled.”

That was me. It was crazy. Everything’s been crazy. Sorry to make this a pity party, that was not point. Perhaps the craziest, though arguably the best, thing is that the thing that changed the most is I went from thinking we were in a mutual frenemy relationship, and now I freaking love you.

Crazy, right?

Or maybe not, because how could I not love you? You’re not perfect, no one is, but I can’t shake the suspicion that maybe you’re perfect for me. Is this the story of our fairy tale romance where we fall deeply in love? 

I don’t want it to be just a fairy tale. I want it to be real.

Imagine how much of a fool I am if you read this and have literally no feelings for me. I don’t know if I can show this to you yet. Kind of baring my soul here. That’s slightly nerve racking. Or more like a lot. 

Like, it’s not even just that you’re impossibly beautiful. Not to be weird, but do you know how hot your gray eyes are?? Not to mention, the look that tells me you can drop-kick me anytime. Not going to lie, you’re hot. Like a lot. Like so much that it hurts lot. 

The thing that really sticks out is that you were willing to turn away from everything you believed in for me. As friends or otherwise, you were there for e, even though we hardly know each other. 

Well, I guess we do now. Remind me later to make that “know” knew instead. I am going to have to completely rewrite this. Actually, wait, I can’t show you this. That would be soooo embarrassing. I’m not going to do that. 

And the letter’s way too long anyway. What kind of loser writes a love letter so long that it’s eye-bleeding worthy to read. 

Anyways, I love you. A lot. If I’m not going to show it to you, I might as well just get that out. I wasn’t expecting it, but I really really love you and it kills me because I would never in a million years be worthy of someone like you. Not because of your position being a princess and all that, although that is also intimidating, but because you’re you. 

Sincerely, 

         Yours

AKA Percy, the boy who hopelessly loves you with all his heart

“Oh goodness,” Annabeth said, rereading the letter. Why did she have the sudden temptation to cry? She had cried so much recently. And it wasn’t like she was sad. Quite the contrary, actually. This might have been one of the happiest moments in her entire life.

Percy’s hand fiddled with hers nervously. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“The best thing,” she told him, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug, forgetting that he was still recovering.

He let out an “oof” but didn’t let go. He delicately placed his hands on her back and leaned into her.

“I was serious, Annabeth,” he murmured into her hair. “I love you.”

“I love you more.” 

There. She said it. It wasn’t scary or hard like she had expected, instead thrilling. Holding a million promises for the future.

“Not possible,” he argued.

“It has to be. Because there’s no way you can compete with the feelings you’ve stirred inside me. You are making me crazy.”

“Crazy for you.”

“Stole the words right from my mouth.”

He chuckled, his lips still pressed to her hair, his hands remaining on her back. “I am a thief, aren’t I?”

“Oh, definitely. You stole my heart. It’s a miracle I’m still breathing.”

“You know, if that’s the case, then you’re a thief too.”

“I guess I am.”

In a startling moment, something that faintly resembled a yelp escaped Percy, and he shifted slightly so they were eye to eye.

“Wait!” he said like he was having the most mindblowing discovery ever. “We love each other! Oh my gosh, we actually both love each other. You love me. Say it again, please, say it again.”

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. “I love you.”

Percy laughed, and it was the most beautiful sound. “Again please.”

“I love you.”

“Oh wow, okay, can you say it again?’

She let out a breathy laugh. “I love you. Really, truly love you.”

“Are you serious? Like you’re not just saying that?”

She grabbed his cheeks and rubbed her thumb across his cheekbone. “Percy. I’m not lying. I honestly love you a lot. Why is that so hard to believe?”

“Because I’m me.” He stated it like fact, something he was used to. 

“You mean the most awesome, glorious person to ever live on this earth? Yeah, that is you. Duh. But why wouldn’t I love that person?”

“Don’t say that.”

“But it’s true.”

“I wasn’t fishing for conversations,” he promised. 

She smiled. “I know.”

“So don’t say that.”

“You can’t stop me. You’re incredible, Percy. Truly incredible. You’re funny and sweet and literally, I think I’m obsessed with you.”

“Ha, I knew it,” he teased, his eyes drifting to her lips. He quickly looked away, but not before she noticed.

“Can I ask you something crazy?” she mimicked. 

“Any time. Crazy is the best way. 

“Can I kiss you?”

His eyes literally widened as he breathed in sharply. Neither spoke or moved for a minute, and they stayed that way, Annabeth waiting for his next words but still satisfied with how they were now. 

His arms were still wrapped loosely around her, and she was holding onto him tightly. Their eyes were locked, and they were so close that she could feel his breath on her lips. 

Instead of answering, he closed the last stretch of distance between them.

In that moment, she knew that she never wanted to let him go. She didn’t ever want to break up with him; she wanted their relationship to be something they fought for.

She wanted to have a relationship with him, period. The kind where she could kiss him whenever she wanted, or could tell him she loved him so many times that he managed to understand it.

“I love you,” she whispered against his lips.

“I love you,” he parroted. 

When they separated, she leaned her forehead against his, breathing in his smell. This was too good to be true. Part of her was with Percy, and suspected it was nothing but a dream, but there was no way she could have imagined that. 

He grinned, his tilted, lopsided, unperfectly perfect grin, showing off his dimple and she loved him so much that it hurt. 

She kissed him again and decided that this was her happily ever after. Maybe she wouldn’t always be happy, but she would choose Percy time and time again, and that was better than living up to an unrealistic expectation of everything being perfect all the time.

The only thing that mattered right now was that he loved her and she loved him.

Chapter Text

Annabeth,

I love you.

Sincerely, 

           Yours

Annabeth smiled as she read the letter, and hurried to write one herself. 

Percy, 

I love you more. 

Sincerely

        Your(‘s) girlfriend.

Percy laughed at the letter. She always had to one-up him.

He never thought he would get to this point, where he could have a girlfriend and just have plain old fun.

But everything was okay now, and he was free. The barrier was down, and Auradon was finally at peace.