Chapter Text
~~~~~Percy Jackson~~~~~
IV: Piper
~~~~~Percy Jackson~~~~~
December 10th, 2011
Tahlequah, Oklahoma
Percy knocked thrice.
“I'll get it!” Said a feminine voice she didn't quite recognize. When the door opened, though, she definitely knew the face. “Oh! Uh, can I help you?”
Percy smiled a little. “Hey, Shel. It's… It's Percy. Is Piper in…?”
Shel’s eyes went wide as she did a double take. “Uh… Yeah… Uh… C-come in…?”
Percy thanked her and followed Shel inside and through a hallway that opened up into a living room. Sitting on the couch was Piper, seeming pretty damn happy compared to when Percy had last seen her.
“Hey babe, who’s…?” Piper frowned as she looked at Percy. “Do I… I know you. Who…”
Percy smiled at her. “Hey, Pipes. It's been… What, three months?”
Piper's eyes went wide. “Percy?!”
“Yeah - uh, don't freak?” Percy asked hopefully. “Still kind of… On the run.”
“You– but– I– wh– you're a girl!”
“Sharp eye,” Percy said dryly. “Goddess magic has its perks,” she said with a small smile.
“You're…”
“No, I'm not a goddess,” Percy said to Shel, who'd been giving her a dubious look. “I just… Met one while I’ve been out. Well, two, actually.”
Piper took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “Okay… Alright… You, sit,” she said to Percy, pointing to a chair. “I'm getting a drachma and calling Annabeth.”
“If you do that, I'm leaving,” Percy said sharply. Piper looked at her in surprise. “Nobody can know I was here, Piper. Not even Annabeth.”
“But she's… What, are you worried she'll freak— wait, is that why you left?” Piper asked, seeming to get herself worked up. “I swear if it is she's fu—”
“No, Piper. That's not why,” Percy said. She sighed, but at least obliged Piper and sat in the offered chair, rubbing the right side of her head. She scowled when she knocked some hair loose from the ponytail she'd put it into. “...Look, let's just say I've been doing a lot of soul-searching, and my life’s a lot more messed up than anyone knew.”
“Aren't you, like, the Ki— uh, Queen of messed up lives?” Shel asked as she sat back down next to Piper, draping her legs over her girlfriend’s lap. “Like… No offense but it sounds like your life’s been a shitshow.”
“None taken,” Percy said, smiling a little. “But yeah… Try ‘Poseidon isn't my dad and Annabeth’s been manipulating me for years’ level fucked.”
Piper blinked. “That's… Okay, yeah, fair enough,” she muttered. “How did…”
“The first goddess I met was Circe,” Percy explained. “Remember the story I told you about the Spa?” Piper nodded, seeming to tense a bit. “I apologized to her, and… Well, we came to an understanding and both forgave each other. She turned me into a girl like I've always wanted, and—”
“Wait, always?” Shel asked, surprised. “You seemed to be chill being a dude before.”
Percy winced. “Call it, ah… False bravado.” She sighed and rubbed the side of her nose. “My stepfather kinda made me terrified to be LGBT+ in any way, and then Circe showed me myself as a girl only to guinea pigify me.”
Shel closed her eyes, looking pained. “Damn.”
“Yeah.”
“So… She made things right. That's good,” Piper said, relaxing. She then had a small smile appear on her face. “Welcome to the club - you're a girl and you're queer, you're officially part of the cool squad.”
Percy giggled a bit at her antics, nodding sagely. “Very true,” she agreed. She gave Piper a more heartfelt smile, then. “Thanks… For accepting me.”
Piper shrugged. “Percy, I'm literally engaged to a girl,” she said, waving her left hand which was adorned with her engagement ring. “Be pretty dumb of me not to.”
Percy shrugged weakly. “I know, just…” She grimaced. “When I looked back on everything… Well… You're kind of my best friend, so… Your opinion matters to me.”
“I… Wh-what?”
“Woah… Guess we should bump her up to your Maid of Honor,” Shel muttered under her breath.
“Percy… I-I’m flattered and touched, and honestly I probably feel the same, but… What about Grover? Or Hazel or Frank?”
Percy sighed. “Grover…” She grimaced. “He put an empathy link on me without my consent. He could literally monitor my emotions for years until I had Rachel break it.”
Shel swore under her breath. “That little…”
“I never liked that goat anyway,” Piper growled.
Percy gave them grateful smiles. “And… Hazel and Frank are like family. A little sister and brother. I can't really say they're friend material - they're family. But… You know me. You treat me like an equal, and you care. You're kind, honest…” She faltered, but only briefly. “And you know what it's like to feel like nobody tells you the truth.”
Piper's expression fell. “Your d… Poseidon and Annabeth.”
Percy nodded. She began to massage her left hand with her right. “Poseidon… He wanted fame - glory,” she muttered. She squeezed harder to temper her growing fury. “He manipulated Mom’s memories, overloaded me with blessings… forced me to be the demigod of prophecy. I don't know who my godly parent is, but I've narrowed it down - Hades, Aphrodite, or Demeter.”
Piper’s eyebrows skyrocketed. “We could be sisters?!”
“Oh, damn,” Shel breathed.
“Maybe,” Percy agreed. “Amphitrite said Aphrodite's been strange lately. Have you noticed anything?”
Piper pursed her lips. “I mean… Well…”
“She's pissed at Annabeth,” Shel said flatly. She waved Piper’s protests off. “I'll level with you - she's worried you're gonna get hurt. She's already confident that Annabeth messed up and hurt you badly. She was ready to smite her if she found out her suspicions were true.”
“It… could be her motherly concern,” Piper admitted. “But… Well, I don't know.”
Percy sighed, staring at the coffee table. “Annabeth's been hiding information from me from the start,” she began slowly. “First it was about my father… Then the people he hurt… Luke… Circe… And it's grown from there. She keeps secret after secret. In my downtime I've been paying attention to my memories, and Pipes… It's not good. She's never treated me like a partner - like a true equal. She treats me like a hindrance and a weak link.”
Piper squirmed. “But… You went to Tartarus…”
“We did,” Percy agreed softly. “...And now I think she knew from the start that we had to close the doors from both sides. Annabeth is a genius, and I'm proud of her brains. But she's also been playing me like a fiddle. I… I don't know if our relationship would survive if I went home now. But I'm not done.”
“You said you were doing soul-searching?” Shel asked curiously. “How so?”
“Apologizing. Making amends,” Percy admitted. “I've still got a good few names I want to check on before I return to New York.”
“Huh… But… Wait, are we…?” Piper asked.
Percy looked down at her hands. “I've been thinking, and I've not been a good friend to you,” she said softly. “Your Dad’s had his career totally destroyed, and I just… Stayed in New York. I didn't help Apollo, I didn't help you… I didn't protect Jason.”
“Percy—”
“I was the leader,” Percy said firmly. She met Piper’s eyes, knowing the daughter of Aphrodite would see the tears falling down her face. “I was the leader when we were on the Argo II. Everyone knew it, they just didn't say it. Annabeth didn't want the spotlight, Jason was tired of leading, you, Leo, Hazel, and Frank were all too inexperienced. It was me… It was always me. And I acted like such an idiot, both then and after. I let you down… I let Jason down.”
“Y-you were doing the best you could, Percy,” Piper said awkwardly. Shel moved her legs and Piper got up to crouch by Percy. “You had a life to live… And none of us expected Jason to die. It's not your fault.”
Percy stared at her knees, tears falling and making the thighs of her jeans wet. “Then why do I blame myself?”
Piper pulled her into a gentle hug that Percy slowly returned. “Because everyone keeps putting crap on your shoulders,” she said in a low voice. “Because Annabeth and Poseidon and everyone else keeps demanding that you be the responsible one. The hero… The strongest of us all.”
Percy laughed bitterly as she clung to Piper’s fleece. “I’m not strong anymore… My powers are all gone,” she said hoarsely. “I can breathe underwater, I’ve still got my strength and speed and stuff, and that's it. Otherwise… I'm a mortal that's vulnerable to magical weapons.”
“...I think you're still powerful,” Shel piped up. Percy looked at her in confusion over Piper’s shoulder. “Maybe not physically or magically… But you're making this journey. You're apologizing to others. You're righting wrongs and making amends… And you're being vulnerable. Honest with your feelings. You're different than when we last met, and… I like this Percy better.”
Percy smiled through her tears. “Thanks, Shel.”
Piper hummed in agreement. “She's right… And hey, maybe things'll change when you meet your real divine parent,” she said, grinning while she broke the hug. “Maybe Aphrodite gave you Charmspeak, too.”
Percy snorted. “Or maybe it's Hades and that's why I'm always on the brink of death,” she joked.
“That'd make Nico your brother.” Percy made a face and Piper laughed at her while going back to sitting with Shel. “Don't act like it's that bad,” Piper teased.
“No… But if he's my brother, that makes the crush he had…”
Piper paused and then looked incredibly pained. “Okay, yeah, no. Fair point,” she said, letting a breath hiss out of her. “Let's hope for Aphrodite or Demeter.”
Percy nodded. “Agreed.”
Piper sighed. “Still… I gotta say, Annabeth being like that…” She then paused. “Maybe it's not that surprising.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well… Uh…” Piper squirmed uncomfortably and didn't meet Percy’s eyes. “That judo flip… And the other ways she… Physically keeps you in check… or blames you for stuff that's not your fault… That's kind of abusive, Percy.”
Percy felt her mouth go dry. Abusive…
She could see that word working for Gabe. She could see it for Poseidon, in the form of neglect among others. She could see it for Clarisse, for Gaea, for Kronos…
But Annabeth? Abusive? Had what Annabeth done to her truly been so unforgivable? And besides, how would Annabeth react if…
“I-I don't know,” Percy said, looking at her bag next to her feet. “It's just… S-secrets and stuff. I don't… a-and hey, so what if she's rough sometimes? Tha-that’s okay, and—”
“Percy,” Shel implored her. Percy went silent. “You told me about your stepdad… how he treated you and your Mom. I just… Do you maybe… Think you just… Got so used to it that you… Unintentionally fell for someone who mistreated you?”
“I… What?”
“It's… something I've learned about in my psychology classes,” Shel admitted. “You had an abusive stepdad in your formative years, so that's the type of relationship you've normalized. You're not accustomed to being treated like an equal, but like you're subservient. You expect a partner who pushes all the hard work onto you while they reap the rewards. You… You looked for a narcissist, and it's your Mom’s fault.”
Percy drew her legs up and buried her face in her knees so they wouldn't see her tears. “She’s not like that. She… Mom did that to protect me. I know that.”
“Did you know that when he was abusing you?”
Percy's lip trembled. “...She’s not a bad person,” she sobbed softly. She sniffled and hiccoughed. “My Mom… She's a good person.”
“Good people do bad things, Percy,” Piper said softly. “That's why you're on this little… Trip… Right?” Percy didn't answer her. “I'm not saying you should hate your Mom… But it's okay to be upset because of how her actions hurt you.”
“But… But I'm the one who ran away from her. Again,” Percy whispered.
“And just like last time, I bet she'll welcome you home with open arms,” Piper reassured her. Percy felt a hand slowly stroke her hair and knew it was Piper. “Your mom's a good person who meant well. That doesn't mean you're not allowed to be hurt by her actions… And even if Annabeth means well, that doesn't make how she treats you okay. At all. She needs to be better… And if you think you're too hurt to stay with her, then don't.”
“But—”
“Percy. Take it from the daughter of the love goddess,” Piper said firmly, taking Percy's head in her hands and tilting it up to look directly at the older girl with a stern gaze. “I know what relationships are and aren't healthy. Yours with Annabeth? Isn't. And if you need to break up with her, that's okay.”
“But… But I was her first partner after Luke,” Percy sobbed. “And… And I went to Tartarus with her.”
“All the more reason that the way she treats you is messed up. And completely uncalled for,” Piper asserted. Her expression relaxed when she saw how helpless Percy looked. “Percy… whatever's holding you back - her mental health, her issues, whatever it is - that's not important. You are. You're the victim.”
“...But what if I've hurt her, too?” Percy whispered.
“I'll believe that when pigs fly,” Piper said dryly. Percy decided now was not the time to mention the Clazmonian Sow. “You're a sweet person, Percy, and your love for her? It's pure, but hurting. Broken and fragmented… If you can patch things up without hurting yourself more? Okay. But if not? Or if she keeps hurting you? Well…” She smiled and glanced at Shel.
“Our door's always open to you, Percy,” Shel said kindly.
Percy smiled a bit. “...Thanks, you two,” she said softly.
Piper grinned and gave her another quick hug. “So, just one last thing to figure out before you go.”
“What's that?”
“Think you have time to be fitted for a Maid of Honor dress?” Piper asked with a wicked grin.