Annabeth's POV

She intertwined their fingers as he cried, the tears making small streams on either side of his face. "So…yeah," he croaked, his voice hoarse from the pain she now knew he felt.

She didn't know how he lived with it, constantly eating away at him, constantly destroying his shattered soul piece by further piece. His first love, this Rachel, had died while dating him, Not even died, slowly, and painfully died right in front of him, over months.

But now she realized how much he loved her, even more than she had ever imagined. To Perseus, she was a sign of hope, a sign of renewal, of being fixed, healed, from his brokenness.

No wonder he hadn't wanted to go by Percy since then.

But more than anything, she remembered Luke Castellan, who she now considered to be a small crush compared to what she felt for Perseus. But, at the time, she felt what she thought was love to this much older than her guy.

Luke, to her younger mind, was the epitome of what it was to be cool. He longboarded, he was captain of his football team, he actually played guitar as well, and he just looked cool. He even attempted to teach Annabeth how to longboard, until the fourth go at it and she almost destroyed her face on the concrete.

Luke was okay, until his father, Hermes Mercury, started showing up in his life again. He had left their family when Luke was a baby, and now that he came back, Luke was pissed. Pissed at him for ever leaving in the first place. So, Hermes tended to come over when Luke was out doing something.

And when Luke found out about that, he was still pissed, but he became sad as well. And slowly but surely, the sadness started to replace his anger towards his father. Until the breaking point.

Luke had killed himself. There were never any details released, but Annabeth remembered the toll it took on her. She was depressed for weeks, a few months, and only Thalia could talk to her without her spontaneously bursting into tears or screaming during that.

She didn't know why Luke killed himself until she was older, but when she was younger, all she knew was that Luke was gone. And to her younger self, nothing would ever be okay again without Luke.

Sadness, it seemed, was Luke's cancer, but in the end, he took his own life on his own choice, and it only hurt Annabeth for a while. Rachel had cancer, and her life was stolen away from her, and Perseus's was stolen with hers.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered gently while pressing gentle kisses along his jawline, "I'm so sorry."

He nodded and gently kissed her forehead and started to wipe away his tears with the back of his hand, head still hanging.

She kissed the tip of his nose and murmured, "I'm so sorry, Perseus, that you were hurt like that."

He shook his head, and that left her confused.

"What?" she mumbled, looking at him with concern.

He looked at her, and his eyes glinted with the few tears left in his them, and the green seemed fragment, broken, like the sea had been slashed open and never reclosed, never healed.

He brushed the bangs out his eyes, and murmured simply, "I have a request."

She nodded and grabs his hands in her own. "Anything."

He didn't smile, but the corners of his lips made the slightest, so slight, movement upwards, and it filled her with hope and happiness and rush of emotion for the man in front of her.

He pulled his hand out from hers and held it out to her, fingertips slightly tilted down, and said, "I'm Percy Jackson. It's quite a pleasure to meet you," and she saw the usual playful glint in his eyes, and another rush of emotion hit her like a brick wall.

Her arms flew around his neck, and her lips collided into his, and her brain melted, and, with it, her logic. He was the only thing that was real, that existed, and she wanted him more than ever.

A/N: So, next chapter is gonna be M. Again. Just a warning for y'all that wanted one. Hope you liked the glimpse into Annabeth's life, and now you know even she lost a loved one. Shame, hm?