ON THIS SPRING DAY
━━━━━ chapter thirteen
━━━━━ AJ WAS HAVING the second worst time of his life. The actual worst time of his life was the day his Home Economics teacher suddenly grew ten feet tall and started on about family and the importance of having a good family and being the bridge between people ( it all freaked AJ out, so forgive him for not remembering, especially considering its been years ). And then he ran home to find his aunt spewing nonsense about nine people and the earth taking back.
It's been years, and he doesn't really like to remember his life before Camp Half-Blood. It wasn't exactly a fun time. ( See as: not fun at all. )
Anyways, to say this was coming close to that was something. A week had passed since Annabeth Chase had returned from the Labyrinth alone. Alone, alone. No one with her. No Tyson, no Grover, no Percy. And especially no Violet.
He already disliked Annabeth enough, but this really just tipped it over the edge.
AJ was one of the half-bloods posted at Zeus's Fist when Annabeth made it back. At the first sign of a familiar face, people let out a sigh of relief. And then they noticed how little people made it back.
No one said it, but they all wanted to know where everyone else was. They all exchanged nervous looks when Annabeth escaped the Labyrinth by herself, eyes puffy and lips peeled. That familiar sting came back as AJ listened through Annabeth's explanation about what went down.
They had met Hephaestus, they were given a task for him to help them, then an explosion went off. Violet and Percy hadn't made it out. Annabeth had. She ran all the way to Hephaestus, explained to him what happened, and he lent her a metallic spider that would lead her back to Camp Half-Blood.
Annabeth was huddled in the infirmary for two days. AJ heard Lee complain the whole time how it was hard to keep the daughter of Athena from leaving. ( "She keeps insisting she's fine!" the son of Apollo snapped. "She's clearly not, with how high her blood pressure is right now!"
"Just let her leave." AJ waved his hand dismissively. "She's gonna keep trying to leave until you let her." )
( Lee didn't like AJ's attitude, to say the least. Because of that, AJ was posted to help any of the two days Annabeth was in the infirmary. Luckily. )
They kept asking Annabeth questions, but she kept deflecting. "What happened to Percy?" one of Lee's siblings would ask.
"And to Violet?" AJ added, knowing Michael would never ask.
Annabeth winced. "I—I don't know. Lee, if you just let me leave—"
"Not a chance, Annabeth!" Lee snapped, giving her a hard look. "Not until me or Michael clear you."
She scowled at him.
That sting never really left, if AJ was honest with himself. Not from the moment his family moved from California to Virginia. It was like something was haunting him, waiting for the perfect time to strike. This deep, heavy feeling on his chest; this feeling of monsters ( mythological or not ) closing in around him. And the feeling only became worse when he met Annabeth.
For a short while, they did get along. But it didn't last. Nothing ever did. ( AJ knew Violet would call him a pessimist for thinking the way he did, and she would be right. ) And that pessimistic attitude only became worse the third day Annabeth was back at Camp.
She walked into the Arts & Crafts Center, a notebook filled with pages held close to her chest. "AJ." Her voice was meek, almost hesitant.
He stopped carving his halfway-done painting of the night sky. "What?"
Annabeth smiled fondly at the painting, as if reminding her of better times. She shook her head. "I need to talk to you."
"Oh, do you?" He dropped his paintbrush in the cup neck to him, ignoring how Annabeth flinched at the sound. "You didn't before."
She opened her mouth to respond, but sighed, and closed it. It was a minute before she spoke again. "AJ, I feel bad for what happened."
"I'm sure you do."
"But we were kids."
The burning feeling became worse. "What do want, Annabeth?"
"I just want to talk." Her grey eyes looked glassy in the light. She blinked quickly. "About anything. About Violet."
It always seemed like such cruel irony to AJ that he would become best friends with the girl who also became best friends with Annabeth. Despite what he thought he would've done, he never held it against Violet. Maybe that was because she didn't push them to become a friend group; she kept Annabeth and AJ separated ( because they themselves never took the initiative to hang out ).
( Or maybe he didn't hold it against her because he knew no one would ever be as good of a friend as Violet. )
His jaw clenched. "Violet?" he asked.
"Yeah." Annabeth swallowed. "Um, I knew you two were really good friends."
"We are, yeah."
The daughter of Athena watched him for a moment. "You don't care to talk?"
I do care, he thought. I care a lot more than I should.
He took a breath. "I guess not."
Annabeth gave him a tentative smile. "You're art's gotten a lot better. Have you picked up weaving? A lot of my siblings really like weaving."
"Annabeth." AJ gave her a hard look. "What did you want to talk about Violet?"
The smile melted, and a look worse than heartbreak crossed Annabeth's face. "I need to tell someone. But I don't know who else to talk to."
He frowned. "What?"
"You've had to have noticed," she said, confusing him. "The way Violet's been acting?"
"Yeah. Yeah, we had—we had a fight right before you guys left." His eyebrows pinched together. "I've felt ... horrible about it."
That only seemed to fuel Annabeth's mission more. "You asked her why she was being so flakey, right?"
He nodded. "... Yeah. She brushed me off. Maybe some pretty shitty lies."
"That's what she did to me and Percy." She dropped the notebook on the table, rattling paintbrushes and paint pallets. AJ hurriedly steadied his painting, giving her a sour look.
"Watch it, will you?" he grumbled.
"Sorry." But she didn't sound particularly apologetic. "Look, AJ, I've been thinking—"
"That all can't be about Violet's flakiness, can it?" He pointed at the papers, raising his eyebrows. "That'd be ... extreme."
Annabeth gave him a look. "No. Most of it's about the Labyrinth. I've been studying it."
"Yeah, I know you've been." AJ pulled a chair over and sat down. "You're the one given the quest to explore the Labyrinth, weren't you?"
She gave him another look for bringing it up, but he just shrugged. "Anyways, I've been thinking about Violet. I think she's been exploring the Labyrinth by herself."
Oh. That was a leap of faith.
"Where the fuck did you get that from?"
Annabeth flipped the notebook open, and it was all scrawls of her handwriting. She pointed something out and said, "It's strange Violet knew so much about the Labyrinth, isn't it?"
He only gave the blonde a blank look. "You're asking the wrong guy, Annabeth. She never talked to me about the Labyrinth. I didn't even know what it really was before" —he waved his hand at the notebook— "before all this."
Annabeth stared at him, like his answer was unacceptable. "The Labyrinth was built by Daedalus over two—"
"I know what it is!" he yelled before Annabeth started into one of her infamous rants. "Point is, Violet never talked to me about the Labyrinth. I only ever asked about why she was bailing on people so much. She didn't like that I asked, and we had a small argument." He sighed, rubbing his arms. "I just hate it was the last thing we ever said to each other."
Annabeth gave him a sad look, like she understood. "AJ, you shouldn't blame yourself—"
"So what's in there about Violet?"
"I've just been thinking that Violet may have found a passage into the Labyrinth somewhere in New York and looked into it," Annabeth explained, flipping a page.
"What would Violet need from the Labyrinth?" AJ asked.
"That ..." Annabeth frowned. "I'm not entirely sure, but last winter, after they managed to save me, I asked her why she was so sure I wasn't dead and she said ... Well, the way she said it all made it sound like there was more to it than her just not wanting to believe I was dead."
AJ blinked. "You've lost me."
"I'm not entirely sure what I'm trying to say myself," admitted Annabeth, which AJ figured was hard for her to admit considering how much she prided herself on being the smart one.
He sighed, debating for a moment. He could see just how much Annabeth was struggling, and he himself wanted to try and figure out where Violet was. ( And Percy too, sure. ) "Look, do you believe this whole I don't think you're dead thing Violet had going on during the winter has something to do with the Labyrinth? That the feelings Violet had are connected with the Labyrinth somehow?"
"Maybe." The daughter of Athena looked conflicted. "I'm not sure. If it does, I don't know why. Or how. Or what it means even."
Someone walked inside the Arts & Crafts Center, and Annabeth quickly slammed the notebook closed, nearly catching AJ's fingers. She grabbed his wrist as he jerked his hand away and whispered to him, "I didn't talk to you about this, okay? I don't want to ... I don't want to worry anyone else—Connor, Travis, Silena. You can't tell them any of this."
Annabeth's fingers felt like they were burning his skin. AJ's eyebrows pinched together. "I'll help you look into it," he decided. But quickly added, "For Violet."
And it was for Violet. He needed to make sure his friend was okay.
🌷
In years, it was the first time Annabeth and AJ had spent time together without sending hateful but awkward looks at one another. And AJ wasn't so sure how he liked it.
Everyone knew the two didn't get along. It was an unspoken rule. The same way everyone knew that Percy and Clarisse don't get along. The only difference was, everyone knew why those two didn't get along. No one knew why AJ and Annabeth harbored silent hate for each other, it was just silently accepted and no one pushed.
But AJ wasn't sure if it was hate, but only past ill-will. And he was even less sure where he stood in Annabeth's mind. Whether he was something similar to her the way she was to him—a past that just kept coming up to trouble her—or if he was just Violet's best friend now.
( And he was Violet's best friend. Annabeth wasn't. )
Either way, not only was AJ's mind confused by the new ( and unwanted—kind of ) developments in his and Annabeth's ... relationship. ( Could he call what he thought was one-sided hate harbored against one and slight guilt held for the other a 'relationship'? ) But his mind was also confused by the amount of cramming he did while learning the Labyrinth.
( "It's a maze, that's always changing?" he asked.
Annabeth nodded. "Yeah."
"So it's a rip-off of the Maze Runner?"
"... That's not how that works, AJ. I think the Maze Runner ripped off the myth of Daedalus."
"I don't think James Dashner would agree with you."
"I guess me and James Dashner will just have to agree to disagree, then." )
They also grieved the missing presence of Violet together. AJ didn't think it was ever possible—to miss Violet's ( slightly annoying ) presence and to bond with Annabeth Chase for it.
What's even worse is when Annabeth started rambling about architecture again. It was like they were moving past it, and AJ ... he didn't want to. He didn't want to forget how wronged he felt. About what led to the worst time of his life.
Forgetting meant it was never that big of a deal. That all the pain and suffering he felt was nothing and that it was all forgiven. But it wasn't. It wasn't all forgiven. He still felt like he had been wronged, even if it was for Annabeth's sake.
🌷
Eventually, Annabeth was back for a full week. And with no news about any of the other questers, they had to start planning funerals. And AJ could only describe the second week of Annabeth's arrival as the messiest week of preparations.
They held a meeting to discuss what they should do. At the ping pong table sat all the cabin counselors, along with AJ. They all seemed to be mourning the losses, just all differently.
Outwardly, AJ hadn't changed too much, but he felt the heavy weight of sadness every time he thought about it—which was all the time. He never cried in front of anyone, but tears still burned in his eyes. His face seemed to rest in a permanent scowl—face tensed and filled with anger. Behind his eyes was nothing but frustration and fury.
Starting the preparations seemed to send Annabeth spiraling, who had tried to put up a strong front for everybody. Over the past few days, it was like her soul had been snatched and carried away. She stopped caring for her hair, deciding to just pull back all the braids messily. And grief swallowed her eyes—making the startling grey nothing more than dull and dark, as if a thunderstorm was about to roll in. And she carried her notebook with her like a lifeline.
Every once in a while she would glance AJ's way, then look back down at her notebook.
He shifted in his seat, glancing at Connor. The son of Hermes seemed to be gutted by the news, looking more downtrodden than AJ had ever seen before. His brown hair hung into his eyes limply, as if he hadn't taken the time to shower in many days. His blue eyes had dulled and he didn't even look to be scheming anything.
"Annabeth," Chiron spoke up, making the whole table look in her direction. "Anything to add?"
"They—" Her chest stuttered with emotions. "Percy and Violet wouldn't want anything extravagant. They wouldn't want it to be a big deal. Neither of them would want that."
"Yes, I agree." Chiron nodded. "But we will still honor them. Honor everyone lost."
Something Annabeth said was something AJ wanted to scream at the top of his lungs. Last winter, Violet had been so sure that Annabeth wasn't dead. A gut feeling, she told. AJ even remembered the look in Violet's eyes as she said it—confident, self-assured, but scared at the same time, as if she didn't understand why she was so sure.
And suddenly, he understood. He was sure Violet wasn't dead. She just couldn't be. They were holding a funeral for Violet because she was lost, not because she was dead. Instead of saying that, he asked, "What about Tyson and Grover?"
"We will hold funerals for them, as well," Chiron answered. "After Violet and Percy's. Annabeth—do you mind speaking for all of them?"
The daughter of Athena's eyes looked glassy again. She swallowed, but nodded. "I don't mind. Can I—can I design the shrouds for them, too?"
No one protested. No one seemed able to protest, not to such a heartbroken-looking Annabeth.
Chiron gave her a sympathetic look. "Do not overdo yourself, Annabeth."
"I'm not," she insisted, eyebrows furrowing. "I'm just giving them what they deserve."
🌷
It was the day before the funeral before AJ and Annabeth spoke. And it wasn't a kind conversation.
He was leaving the fighting arena, sword in hand, when Annabeth suddenly appeared, book in hand. She was never seen anywhere without a notebook or an actual book. It almost drove him insane a little bit. For someone who seemed to care so much, she was spending so much time with her nose stuffed inside a book or her notes.
It shouldn't have been as bothersome as it was. Or maybe it was just because everything to do with Annabeth seemed to bother AJ.
"What?" he asked, frowning at her.
"We need to talk." Annabeth latched onto AJ's wrist and quickly began to pull him towards Cabin Six. She rambled on, not letting him speak, "I would've spoken to you earlier but I had to make sure. I only meant to go over my notes for a couple of minutes but I lost track of time. Besides, I need to talk to you privately. I've already kicked everybody out."
AJ's mind spun as she talked on.
"I know it sounds like a lot," Annabeth admitted, weaving between campers ( and still pulling AJ along ). "But I really think I stumbled upon it. It'll make sense when I show you. The book I've been reading—I've never read it before, it just never stood out to me, but I was getting desperate, and so—"
"What the fuck are you saying?" AJ stopped in his tracks.
Annabeth was forced to stop with him, sighing. In a low whisper, she said, "Percy might be alive—and I think I know exactly where he is."
"Okay ... what about Violet?"
The blonde huffed. "Don't you care about Percy?"
"Not really, if I'm honest."
Annabeth scowled and swung the door to Athena Cabin open. She pulled AJ inside, and quickly shut the door closed after him.
"Um ..." AJ pointed at the door. "You know the rules, Annabeth."
She stopped all of a sudden, frowning. "Why care about that rule? Chiron knows we hate each other."
Hate or just a general dislike?
The tips of his ears burned, but AJ only shook his head. Annabeth took that as her answer. She turned around, flipping open the book she had with her to a certain page. And then she grabbed her notebook and flipped it open to one of the last pages. Over the days, she had nearly filled the entire notebook up with notes and scrawls about the Labyrinth, Violet, and apparently, theories about Percy's location.
"Okay." AJ crossed his arms over his chest. "You think you know where Percy's at."
"I know where he's at," Annabeth corrected, fussing over pages in her book.
He raised his eyebrows. "Confident."
Annabeth turned around, showing AJ two pages. He just stared, his Ancient Greek reading abilities abysmal. "Um ... what does that say?" he asked.
She sighed. "Ogygia. That's where Percy's at."
"But what about Violet?"
🌷
"Don't you see it, AJ?" Annabeth snapped the book closed, groaning angrily. "Violet may be with him! Or ... I think she is."
"Well," he spread his hands, "what is Ogygia?"
"Do you know who Calypso is?" Annabeth retorted.
AJ shook his head. Annabeth sighed, "Ogygia is where Calypso lives."
"Couldn't have guessed," he grumbled.
"And Ogygia is this phantom island," she continued. "It's an island where heroes are sent to after being seriously injured. It's an island of paradise for them to recover as Calypso takes care of them." She flipped through the book, holding out a different page to AJ; he didn't bother reading. "Thing is, every hero who is sent there is cursed to fall in love, but always have to leave the island. And she falls in love with them, too."
"That sounds like it sucks," AJ amended for his lack of care. "It's not exactly love if you're cursed into it."
Annabeth frowned. "That sounds like something Violet would say."
"Well, we shared the same cabin for three years now." He rolled his eyes. "Three years, we put up with each other."
"Anyways, what's even worse is Calypso is bound to Ogygia until the end of time. It's her punishment—cursed to fall in love with any hero that lands on her island, in desperate need of help. But that hero can never stay."
"Hero," AJ noticed. "Singular. So if you think Percy's there—"
"It would be nice if that's where Violet was too." Annabeth's frown deeped, and she shut the book, placing it on her bed. "But I'm not sure. Besides, I've never heard about a girl landing on Ogygia. I've only ever read about male heroes—Odysseus, for example."
"Well." AJ shrugged. "You know just how gay Violet is. She could have a crush on anyone who bats their eyes at her."
"That's a little mean."
"You know it's true. Even Vi would admit it."
"... Yeah." Annabeth shook her head quickly. "Anyways, I only thought about this because ... I didn't tell you this, okay?" She gave AJ a hard look. "But, during the quest last winter, apparently Aphrodite talked to both Violet and Percy. I only know this because—well, Percy told me. He said that Aphrodite was taking a special interest in him, and that she would make things 'harder for him' in the love department. Aphrodite may have told Violet the same thing."
AJ was catching on. "So you think Aphrodite is the one to blame for Percy being on Ogygia—if he's even on Ogygia. And that maybe Violet's with him."
"I mean," Annabeth braced the book against her hip, "Lady Aphrodite talked to both of them. You think it's coincidence?"
"So, what? This Calypso girl, Violet, and Percy could be forming some poly relationship?" AJ rolled his eyes, as if the idea was stupid, even to him. "You know Vi would never be down for that."
Annabeth's face flushed—in anger or embarrassment, AJ couldn't tell. "Is that really what your mind jumps to? Poly relationships?"
He shrugged. "You're the one who offered the idea of Violet and Percy landing on this Ogygia together. Said who lands there is cursed to fall in love with that Calypso girl."
"You're not taking me seriously." Her arms crossed, agitation was creeping into her face.
AJ sighed deeply. "Annabeth, think about it ..."
"I have, AJ!" she hissed. "I've done the reading, the notes, the research. I've done it all! And this is what I've come up with. Think about it, AJ." She mocked his voice. "Why don't you believe me?"
"I don't believe you because I think you're grasping at straws to try and convince yourself that they're not dead," he snapped. He knew it was hypocritical to get mad at Annabeth for that when even he was certain that Violet wasn't dead, just lost. "Would them being on Ogygia be any better than them being dead? They're on a paradise island while we're here suffering! Is that what you want? For them to fucking abandon us because they can't deal with the pressure of Luke being a bitch?"
Somewhere in the back of his mind, AJ knew it was cruel to bring up Luke Castellan to a distressed Annabeth. But the rest of his mind wanted her to feel as bad as he felt.
Annabeth's mouth wobbled for a moment. "You're being mean, AJ."
"I know I am. And I mean to be." His nostrils flared, lips curled in anger. "You can't use logic to explain this all away, Annbeth. You need a reality check, and no one here is going to do it—but me. We already don't like each other, so it might as well be me, right? You know, I wish I could try and use this fucking dumbass explanation you've got to try and convince myself that my best friend—"
"You don't think Violet isn't my best friend, either?!" Annabeth yelled, throwing the book to the floor. Her eyes brimmed with tears. "They both were—Percy and Violet. It's not only you who's lost Violet, AJ. Connor, Travis, Silena. Why don't you just stop thinking about yourself for a goddamn moment? You're such a selfish asshole!"
"I'm selfish?" His voice rose higher, bouncing around the cabin. "You're calling me selfish, after what you fucking did?"
"I was a child!"
"So was I!" he roared back. "And because of—you, I lost my dad. I lost my grandfather. I had to go live with my aunt, who fucking abused me because she hated everyone around her."
His voice was filled with so much venom, hatred, and frustration, that he didn't even notice the way Annabeth stopped. Her eyes were bloodshot and her chin quivered, but he was too blinded by his bitterness to even notice.
AJ stopped, hands shaking, and tears burning in his eyes. "I know you want to believe that this can end well, but face it, Annabeth.
"AJ—"
He backed away before she could reach out. "I don't want to hear anything you have to say to me. I'll speak for Violet, but after that, I don't want to hear a fucking thing you have to say to me."
🌷
For far longer than he had to, AJ practiced what he was going to say. But all the words seemed to just spill away with his tears once Connor finished his speech.
"Violet was ... amazing," he concluded. "She was just ... I don't think there's enough words to describe her. Maybe I just would never have enough time to do so. Besides, I think she'd hate me forever if I tried. She'd say it'd be embarrassing or something." He laughed lightly. He chewed on his bottom lip for a moment, looking out to the crowd. "I—I've known Vi from the moment she came to Camp for the first time, and those three years, there's a lot of stories I could tell, but, um ..." He glanced in Chiron's direction, who raised his eyebrows expectantly.
A guilty smile crossed Connor's face as he turned back to the crowd. "I won't tell any stories because I would've struggled to pick through which ones to tell ... And not because most of them would get me in trouble with Chiron."
The centaur gave the boy a disappointed look, but a small laugh rippled through the audience watching Connor patiently.
"Anyways," Connor said quickly, "Vi was a true hero. Not because she wielded flashy weapons, or could do cool trick shots with a bow, but because she actually gave a shit about people. She wanted what was best for everyone—and she would've done what she could to make that happen. I think that's what makes someone a hero, and to honor her, I think we should all think like that."
"Thank you, Connor." Chiron nodded to the son of Hermes, who gave a node back. He stepped back into his spot of people lined up to speak for Percy and Violet. He and Connor exchanged words as Chiron said, "Annabeth, please come forward."
AJ watched as the daughter of Athena stepped forward to give her speeches for both Violet and Percy. He watched her intently, nitpicking every little thing. The way she cleared her throat too close to the mic, reverberating the sound through the amphitheater. Or the way she stumbled over words here or there. The way she twisted words for the truth she held so dear to her heart to slip through without her outwardly stating it.
You're not being fair to her, some part of his mind grumbled to him. She lost both Violet and Percy.
Shut up, he snapped back. I don't care.
Annabeth finished, looking to Chiron, who said, "AJ."
The blond winced, the remnants of his eulogy seeping from his mind as Annabeth took a step back. He started to move forward when Annabeth gasped, grabbed the mic back from Chiron, and yelled loudly, "Percy Jackson?!"
The attention that had been on AJ was completely gone, in a matter of seconds. Everyone turned as one, looking wildly in the direction Annabeth shouted in. All heads looked to the son of Poseidon, who wore a linen shirt and shorts.
People swarmed him, but AJ stayed back, sharing looks with Connor. Percy had the fucking gall to crash his own funeral.
It was just a shame he couldn't bring Violet with him.
🌷 SEPT. 22ND, 2023 / i sat on this chapter for a little while because i was not happy with it at all - and i'm still not lowkey bc it just feels like,, boring
i hope this chapter aj didn't come off as like some woman hater (because he's NOT) - it's just that him and anna got some history and a beef that run's deep
this chapter is sort of a "bonding" moment for them - not that they get along bc they don't, it's more of a mutual understanding
like they both care for violet and want to do this for her and that they have to work together to make it happen
and it's not even really "bonding" 😭 it's just them kind of a mutual understanding nothing will get done if they don't work together
and it's lowkey kinda aj's fault (like now, not like ,, way back)
lowkey also kind of a trauma dump on his part too loll ,, but it doesn't make sense bc you don't know the trauma (yet)
so don't worry if you're confused - you're supposed to be!
anyways,, super excited for aj's character involvement and his development !!
what's really weird is that i had a harder time writing connor's little speech about vi than i did writing annabeth and aj's argument 😭😭
like ,, it just hurt my soul bc vi and connor don't end up together but he sounds so in love ,, like this is why i don't add my ocs having other love interest than the one they end up with bc it just makes me sad
anyways, this is aj fr
anyways,, thoughts?? opinions??
(not edited and not proofread)