Scarred: A PJO Fanfiction

Chapter 13: It's Called PTSD, Bitches

Percy Jackson's POV:

After the whole ordeal with the abuse accusations, I was out of energy. I begged Annabeth not to go to school that morning, but she just poured water on my head, as per usual. I didn't want to deal with her so-called friends or classes, or anything. So now, I'm sitting in Greek Mythology, barely staying awake. 

"Mr. Jackson." My teacher yelled. "Mr. Jackson!" My head snapped up abruptly. I saw Annabeth rolling her eyes playfully across the room. I mumbled a yes. "Let's see if you were paying attention." I almost scoffed. Of course, I wasn't. "Name five of the twelve Olympians." She said sternly, clearly pleased with herself. 

"Easy. Zeus," I muttered 'drama king' too quiet for anyone else to hear. "Poseidon, Hera, (Once again, I muttered 'damn peacock bitch'), Apollo, and Artemis." Thunder rumbled outside due to the comments. I snickered, loudly. So did Annabeth. 

"Oh, um, yes that is correct." She said, flustered by my quick answer. Ha! That was fun. Annabeth smirked. Alex's eyes were angry... Again, who's surprised? Not me. Gods, he's always upset. She moved on to monsters and I was somehow able to stay awake. 

---------------baby time skip-----------------

Just as we were nearing the end of class, when I thought Annabeth and I were safe from interrogation for once, the teacher spoke up again. Great! Annabeth wasn't in class as she had asked to go to the bathroom to IM Chiron. 

"As a final topic in class today, we will be talking about the underworld." Okay, Hades, Persephone, Cerberus, not bad. Whatever, it didn't matter what we were learning, as long as it wasn't down there. As soon as I thought that, I jinxed myself. "So, we are going to start with the deepest parts of Greek Hell, Tartarus." 

Shaking, quivering, tears. That's all I knew for the next few seconds. "Annabeth. ANNABETH." I whisper-yelled, crying and shaking violently at this point. I looked around for my wise girl, but she remained gone. Gone. I slipped into a flashback I rarely got. 

Usually, I saw Bob or Damasen or Akhlys. Instead, Annabeth and I, hanging desperately over the edge of the pit, my arm clinging both to her and the wall above. Too late, I knew we were going to fall in. "You're not getting away from me. Never again." I told Nico to meet us at the other side of the doors, but I knew it was a feeble attempt at life. Still, I swore on the River Styx I would keep my wise girl safe. 

We were falling, fast, hard, slow, soft. I didn't even know anymore. Forever, for never, I couldn't tell. We were weightless yet we weighed a million tons, more than the earth itself. I clung to her like my life force. We hit the bottom after what felt like six eternities. 

I breathed back into the classroom and saw blurry figures looming over me. The teacher took a step forward and asked if I was okay. I almost punched her, instead, I screamed and sobbed Annabeth's name. I rocked myself back and forth in my seat waiting for her to come to calm me down. My vision cleared and in front of me was a frantic Annabeth, hugging me and whispering things to make me feel better. I cried into her shoulder whispering "We were falling, Annie, we were falling." 

"It's okay, Seaweed Brain, it's okay. I love you. We're out. I promise. And don't call me Annie." I laughed sadly. I tangled my fingers in her honey-blond hair, forgetting anyone was there. 

"Care to explain, Jackson, Chase?" She snarled, snapping us both back into reality. My breath caught. Thankfully, Athena always has a plan. 

"He has PTSD. We both do. It triggers when any sort of hell is mentioned. We're sorry for interrupting this lesson, but we won't be returning until after this unit. Sorry!" I kept my head buried in her shoulder, tears still dripping. We walked to an empty hall where I told her the flashback's contents in detail. "It's okay, Percy, I promise. We're out, we're alive, you know that." I love her, so much. 

Burning Maze spoiler ahead***

"Yeah, we're alive, but I... I could've saved them, all of them. It's my fault, I let them die." I remember them all. Zoe, Bianca, Beckendorf, Silena, Luke, and, had they not had the Physician's Cure, Leo, and Jason. 

 "No, no it's not, you know you couldn't have prevented that." I hugged her again gently. She pulled me closer because nobody was watching. I savored it, knowing it probably wouldn't happen again until they were out of this shitshow. I took a deep breath, steadying myself before walking back towards the classroom. "You sure you're okay?" She confirmed. 

"As long as we're together, right?" 

"Right." 

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As much as I'd like to end on that note, NO.

Liam Anderson's POV: 

I never knew two people could go through so much. Clearly, I was wrong. ADHD, Dyslexia, PTSD, and a whole bunch of trauma. Jeez. I'm starting to feel truly sorry for them. The pieces are falling into place now. The scars, the PTSD, the secrets, and lies all had to be connected somehow. I just wanted to start over. They had done nothing wrong and Alex, Lily, and Isabel were being huge bitches. 

After class, I brought this up with them. Besides the part that they were bitches of course. Isabel agreed immediately, and, though it took her a lot longer, Lily did too. Only Alex didn't want to try again with them. I'm upset. I don't know what happened to him, honestly. 

So we prepped for the scariest request of our lives: Restarting with Percy and Annabeth. 

Ahhhh it's been a whole month! The next chapters are prewritten!