Recorded Dreams (A Percabeth AU)

34

Percy POV-

I spend the day playing with the kids at the Chase Space. Many of them want to play castle, where Estelle, of course, is the queen. Alex laughs as Estelle waves a wand and orders Magnus around.

"Shut it, Fierro," Magnus grumbles as he is ordered to bow down to the new prince, Alex.

"I didn't say anything."

"You were thinking something though. I could see it in your eyes."

"I was thinking about how easy it would be to chop your head off right here while your bowed down and not prepared. I also have a fabulous angle..." Magnus jumps to his feet.

"Alex, not in front of the children," Sam says, sitting on a chair that we used as a throne, Amir on the throne next to her.

Alex shrugs. "Suit yourself. Magnus, let's take our duel elsewhere."

"I'm good with staying here."

"Sir Magnus must go duel the prince," Estelle narrates.

Magnus frowns. "I would love if you decided to be on my side, Estelle."

"Not when Alex is here."

"She gets me. Oh god, I love this girl. Just look at how cute she is!" Alex exclaims. "Do I get a weapon?"

"No!" Magnus exclaims as I hand Alex a plastic sword.

"Here you go," Tyson says as he hands Magnus a stick. "Now it's a good fight!" He claps his hands.

"Yes! I've been gifted the power of the mighty stick," Magnus jokes.

"Don't underestimate my stick."

"I would never. Now, I could really use a shield."

"Let's go, Magnus! I want to duel you to the death! A shield won't save you."

Magnus practically sobs out, "Just make my death quick, okay. And Percy? Can you tell Annabeth that she was always my favorite cousin. And that this is her fault."

"How?"

"Just is."

"Okay. I'll make sure to let her know."

"Hey, don't give her the credit for my doing!" Alex exclaims.

"You guys are so over dramatic," Amir decides. "It's not like he can actually kill you with a plastic sword."

"You'd be surprised," Alex says.

"He'd be able to kill me with a pillow," Magnus adds.

"Oh, thats easy to do."

"You talk like you know from experience," Amir says.

"Well, you see..." Alex scratches the back of his head and Amir's eyes go wide. "I'm kidding! I'm kidding!"

Sam glares daggers towards her brother.

"Let's go, Magnus! I want a duel to the death!" Magnus lets out a sob.

"Someone save me!"

"Nope!" Estelle cheers. She sits on her throne, the biggest chair we could find, with a huge smile on her face. I can't help but laugh.

Alex drags Magnus out of the room to battle to the death. We continue our game. Tyson follows me around the whole time, like he has been. I laugh as he tries to mimic everything I do.

"Guys, it's been a half hour. Where are Magnus and Alex?" Blitz asks. Sam smirks.

"They'll be fine. We'll just leave them be."

Everyone gets a goofy grin on their face. Suddenly, the door opens.

"I'm back!" Annabeth calls. I race to her. I wrap Annabeth in a hug.

"Someone's excited to see me. That's a first all day." I squeeze her tight and then press a quick kiss to her lips.

"Rough day?" I ask. She frowns and nods. "Talk?"

"Yeah. Upstairs though, I-" I nod my head and the two of us go upstairs to our room. She goes to the bathroom to remove her make up, and when she steps out, I see tears on her face. I wrap my arms around her again. One hand reaches up to wipe her tears. It broke my heart to see her like this.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why-"

"Don't be sorry for anything, Annabeth. It's not your fault."

She lifts her head and looks into my eyes, pulling away from me. Her yelling begins, "I showed up and almost immediately Helen was yelling at me. She yelled at me for being late, which I was by only one minute and fifteen seconds, to be exact. She yelled at me for every mistake when we were setting up the microphone. She yelled at me for not dressing up enough. She yelled at me telling me I sounded awful and I needed to work on my singing. I didn't even ask for this job, and she has the audacity to tell me I'm not doing it right! I'm sick of her, Percy! She called me stupid and ugly and so many other awful names! I'm absolutely sick of her! And my father just stood back the whole time and said nothing! He's the one who wanted custody of me, yet he doesn't even give an input on my life! Percy, I'm so done with the two of them and-"

I wrap my arms back around her. "Shh, Annabeth, it'll be okay. It's all okay. You have people who love you. I love you so much. Don't listen to Helen. What she says about you doesn't matter. You're beautiful and wonderful and my Wise Girl. If she doesn't care about you, then she doesn't deserve anything from you. I wish I learned that a lot sooner." I think back to when I was younger, before Paul.

"What do you mean?" She asks. I sigh.

"I've never told you about my old stepdad, have I?" She shakes her head.

"I thought it was only ever Paul. You used to have a different one?"

"Yeah. Gabe Ugliano. I called him Smelly Gabe. He wasn't very nice-"

"Percy, what did he do to you?" She sounded angry now. I squeezed her hand as a comfort.

"He would call me stupid and make fun of my grades. He would mock me. He wouldn't let me stay at home during the school year and my room became his space for all of his shit. He would blame me for everything. He punished me for everything. He beat me if I did anything he didn't like, and told me that if I told my mom, he'd hurt her too. I kept quiet to protect her, but it turns out he would hurt her anyways. We both kept quiet for each other." Annabeth lets out a sob.

"Percy," she whispers. She wipes tears on my face. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"It never came up."

"What happened to him?"

"He went to jail for child abuse, and many other things. He's in there for life."

"He deserves worse." I nod in agreement.

She wraps her arms around me as we sit down on the bed. We sit there and just hold each other for a long time. We didn't need to speak. We gathered comfort in each other's silence.

Yay! I updated!

This chapter was a little sad to write, but I thought it was a good one because it shows how well Percy and Annabeth really do trust and love each other.

The next chapter might give a little more on our wonderful Fierrochase situation...

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! Love you all! ❤️