Scars - A PJO/HOO Soulmates AU

24.

Okay, you're probably wondering: Why the hell am I updating on a Tuesday?!? 

Well, I have a good answer. It's because I realized that I am not going to be able to continue writing and updating every Thursday. I end up binge-writing on Wednesday night, which isn't good for me and not-good-quality updates for you. 

I fixed that though. I'm dedicating a small amount of time every day to write, and when I finish a chapter, I'll post it. This is beneficial to me because I won't be overcome with stress and beneficial to you, bc I'm probably gonna be updating twice or thrice a week. It's a win-win situation!!! 

Tell me what you think.

Trigger Warning: Mentions of self-harm and extreme angst. Read at your own risk.

Chapter 23 - Will It Ever End?

Two weeks later...

Percy had been staring at his ankle for almost a full hour now. He was becoming paranoid, completely blinded by theories that somehow derived from one simple comment by his mother.

Sally had made an offhand comment about Percy's tattoos, when she caught him absentmindedly rubbing it.

"Annabeth's last name is Chase, right?" she had asked, "I knew a man named Frederick Chase from a long time ago, does he have any relation to Annabeth?"

Percy looked up, his green eyes full of surprise at his mother asking about Annabeth. She was currently ignoring him, and he doesn't even know what he did wrong.

"That's her father's name..."

Sally raised her eyebrows, "Really? He was such a good man, and father. I wonder if we could meet again. We used to be friends you kn-"

"Good?!" Percy exploded, "How could he be good, mom?! He lets Annabeth-"

He cut himself off. Starve, he wanted to say. He wanted so badly to tell his mom, but he made a promise to Annabeth, one he didn't want to break.

Sally apparently didn't hear his outburst, her attention focused instead on Percy's tattoos. She came closer and inspected the stack of books etched so neatly onto his skin.

Percy looked as well to see what all the fuss was about, and his heart almost stopped. The books weren't just coverless nameless books now. There were old Greek buildings on one and Roman on another. They were architecture books.

"Percy," Sally said softly, "Didn't Annabeth say that she loved architecture?"

"No," Percy mumbled, "No it couldn't be."

"Honey," Sally said, making Percy look her in the eye, "Annabeth has a backpack with an owl on it."

Percy sucked in a breath, and tried hard not to look down at the owl tattoo on his left ankle.

"Maybe she's your soulmate."

Percy sighed as he recalled that day. He never told anyone, not even his mom, that he didn't want a soulmate. And the only person he did tell that too was Annabeth, who is most likely 98% his soulmate. Karma is a bitch.

The scary thing was, even after hating soulmate tattoos for so long, a part of him longs to find his other half. Find them and spend the rest of his life with them.

Whenever Percy catches himself thinking this, he feels disgusted. How could it be that he wasn't even able to stick to one principle? 

He was useless.

As if that wasn't bad enough, now whenever he opens a door, he sees Gabe. Percy has to convince himself that Gabe isn't there. But then it escalated to seeing him at the store, just for it to be another bald dude. And at the movie theatre. Even the counselor turned into Gabe once. (Not that the counselor even helps at all, all he does is say useless peace quotes.)