His Dark Side (Edited Version)

Chapter Six: Suffocation

"Annie, I don't know if I can be fixed."

Those few words echoed in her mind over and over, tearing through her body as she tried to formulate a response. "What's wrong?" She'd only managed to choke out, heart pounding in her chest. Would he tell her? Would he open up?

Percy paused, then shook his head. "I can't."

"Can't what?"

"I don't want to talk about it," he said, his voice sounding rough. "Please let me be."

"Percy, I can't help if you don't-"

"Leave me alone! Go!" He pulled himself away from her, his expression contorted into a mixture of pain, worry and anger. "Leave!" Annabeth froze in shock, staring at him for several moments before she cautiously moved forward, which she quickly realized was a bad mistake. Never corner a frightened animal, ever- It was common sense. 

It hit her too late- Percy's foot planted itself against her chest and shoved.

She was staring at the ceiling, her vision distorted and spinning slightly. She'd fallen off the bed and hit the back of her head against the floor, from what she could gather, weakly using her shaking arms to push herself into a sitting position. Percy had hurt her.

Percy had kicked her. She always assumed, no matter what, Percy would never hurt her. Not ever. But here she was, head throbbing as she focused her vision on a horrified looking Percy.

"Percy-.."

"No," he whispered, shaking his head. "No no no. No. Leave me alone, leave her alone, I don't-" he paused, as if listening to a voice, his eyes hardening and softening, going from furious to petrified over the span of several seconds, clearly fighting with himself.

"Fight it, Percy," Annabeth whispered, her voice hoarse as she coughed. "You know you're not like this."

He clutched his head, pulling at his hair, gasping for air as he shook his head, making soft whimpering noises before he froze, gently pulling his hands away looking over them with a blank expression. Annabeth's heart stopped as he slowly looked up at her, a vile smirk crossing his features.

"Why hello, Annabeth. So... lovely to meet you again."

Tears welled up in her eyes as she crawled forward, letting out a soft sob. "Give me Percy back, please."

He scoffed, seeming annoyed as he sneered down at her in what appeared to be disgust. "You'll never get it, will you? I am Percy."

She reached out a hand, resting it on his knee, vision still swimming. "No. The Percy I love is in there. I want him back. Please." She let out a weak sob, lower lip trembling. "I want him back."

"Didn't you do your research? Didn't you already know what this was? You were spying on him, after all."

Annabeth swallowed. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh please. You injected a son of Poseidon with a water-based substance and expect him to not realize? He refused to believe that you would do such a thing- He's always been fucking stupid, completely spurning all evidence that you're a nosy fucking bitch." He moved to stand suddenly, making Annabeth skitter back warily. He smirked- Not in the goofy Percy way after making a sly joke, no, this was a 'that's right, back down. You know I'm better than you' kind of way.

The door opened, distracting... Percy? Was this Percy? For long enough for Annabeth to scramble to the other side of the cabin, pressing her back against the wall, panic settling in. What if... he tried to attack her, or someone else? He had a weapon on him, none of them did. They were all in the armory, far out of reach- not that any of them could take Percy in hand-to-hand combat anyways. They'd all have to fight together for it to work.