Hello, and welcome! I first wanted to say thank you for clicking on and reading this! I hope that you enjoy this story. Updates are Monday's, Wednesday's, and Friday's and if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to ask!

Disclaimer: I don't know who asked, but uh… it would be really weird if I owned PJO, just saying. And it'd probably be super half-assed so yeah… no Rick Riordan's over here.

~headline: is this a nightmare?~

…

Annabeth likes to think she lives a fairly normal life. A typical day is waking up, getting ready for school, eating breakfast, and then heading to the hellhole itself. Once at school, she'd go to the library, or scroll the notes section of her phone or her google feed, searching for potential blog post ideas that she could write about. When the bell rang, she would head off to class, occasionally chatting with friends as she saw them.

Annabeth has history for the first period. It was possibly her favorite class. She loves learning about the past, how it relates to the future, and why it's so important to acknowledge. There's something about it, something that makes her comforted. Although the past wasn't amazing, and nor was the present, exploring what had once happened always had a big appeal to Annabeth.

Annabeth's favorite thing to learn about is greek history. She enjoys learning about the gods, the myths, the tales and the legends of it all. Her blog, where she writes about all things relevant in pop culture, history, and present day is even named after the Acropolis of Athens, an ancient citadel, a fortress, if you may.

Her friends Thalia and Luke always tease her about it, but the truth is, no matter how much they poke fun at it, no one could deny that Annabeth is the most invested teenager in greek history. Well, maybe not the most. There was also Pylos.

How can she describe Pylos? Well, in short, she met him through a post on her blog. Funnily enough, it wasn't about anything about Greece. It was about Percy Jackson, a popular pop star. Annabeth had always loved Percy, but she had increasingly noticed how fame had jaded him. His scandals were all over the news, and being a pop culture blog, Annabeth couldn't not report on him. So she created a multi-paragraph post called The Percy Problem. To be honest, it was one of her most viewed posts. Her blog wasn't super popular, but she had regular viewers, and so when Pylos messaged her, she was surprised. She had never heard of him before.

In response to her post, he'd sent her a long and detailed paragraph about how Percy Jackson wasn't all he seemed, that everyone has problems, and junk like that. Annabeth was surprised at this, and responded, arguing back. Eventually, through that, they became friends, and bonded over their mutual love of greek history. They occasionally squabble because of Percy Jackson, but other than that, they get along well.

Pylos, who turned out to be a guy, was someone she could rely on. Pylos never got bored of her incessant jabbering over greek history. In fact, he embraced it. Annabeth had talked to Pylos for hours before, not realizing how much time had passed by it was calming, Pylos always could help her sort out her feelings. The best part of it? Everything was anonymous. He only knew her by her username "Acropolis712" (named after her birthday), and his username, PylosPJS. For short, he called her Acropolis, and she called him Pylos.

In short, although her friend Thalia, and her other friend Luke, are her very best friends, Annabeth knew that her friendship was very different with Pylos. And she liked their friendship. The best part about it, they lived across the country from each other, him in Los Angeles, and her in New York City. So she didn't have to worry about accidentally bumping into him, inadvertently giving herself away.

Really, Annabeth's living her best life right now. She has friends, good grades, Pylos, of course, her blog, and a supportive yet strict mother. Her father… not so much, but that doesn't matter. Because as long as nothing bad happens, life will be fine. She'll stay happy, feeling carelessly free, right?

…

But of course, that's not how life works. Especially not for Annabeth Chase. And the inciting incident of it all? October fourteenth.

When Annabeth woke up, it was a fairly normal day. She stretches her arms out to the sky, and then shuts her beeping alarm off. It's what woke her up every morning except for the weekends. Annabeth has owned that small, red clock for about four years, since the start of high school, and it had never failed once to wake her.

She gets out of bed sluggishly, groaning as she rubs her eyes, trying to wake herself up. Her mom left early in the mornings, and came back late at night, working long hours as a defense attorney.

Annabeth then grabs a towel from the wooden rack her mother arranged precariously, and brings it to the bathroom, where she hangs it quickly, before getting herself ready to shower. She gets in, washes herself, and then gets out. Shower's weren't unpleasant for Annabeth Chase necessarily, but they weren't the highlight of her morning. Plus, her shower somehow doesn't understand the concept of "normal water pressure," so she always ends up with water being intensely shot onto her body, scalding her as she quickly tries to clean herself. But that's just how New York is. And although it wasn't right for everyone, she loves it. New York would always be her home, the bustling movement of the city was brilliant, and definitely her pace. It wasn't superficial, and the people were actually genuine.

So she could deal with some intense water pressure.

After showering, she of course, dries herself off, does her hair, and puts on some acne cream for that one big pimple on the side of her forehead (which was thankfully, covered by her hair). She then gets dressed. Annabeth's normal attire consists of jeans, a t-shirt, this old blue jacket that had "yale" written on the front (from her mother, of course), and converse sneakers. There wasn't anything special about it all, Annabeth has always preferred comfort over trendiness. That doesn't mean she didn't admire those with unique styles, people that wear colorful and fashion-forward clothing. In the future even, Annabeth thinks of herself following those trends. But now isn't the time to be brave. It's time to get through high school.

After getting herself ready, she makes breakfast, which was either leftovers, or raisin bread (sue her, she liked it). The breakfast of champions, she calls it. Simple, easy to make, and mostly safe. Annabeth is not handy in the kitchen at all. The one thing she can cook is microwave mac and cheese, and even then, several… incidents came out of that, causing the entire apartment to smell like burnt pasta.

Of course, after breakfast, she goes to school, packing her backpack with messy papers and money in case of emergency. She then heads off on her trek to high school which consists of a mile of walk and three subway stops.

And then, she's there: Brooklyn Academy of the Gifted. Annabeth wouldn't say she's gifted, just that she's a good test taker. She's fairly smart, her friends tell her that straight A's in a school like this translate to child genius, which Annabeth denies, obviously.

Of course, she first meets up with her two best friends. Thalia Grace and Luke Castellan. They've stuck together from the start, since the first day of Kindergarten when a bully pushed Annabeth for knowing all the ABC's. The bully grew up to be fairly dumb, so Annabeth doesn't have any hard feelings.

They talk about all things school related and once in a while, Annabeth is able to bore them about her blog. They groan, and the bell rings, singling them to part ways. Annabeth's in advanced, advanced classes, while Thalia and Luke aren't. It's just because she passed some stupid test freshmen year that allowed her to be with the so called "smart" kids. Even so, Annabeth wonders everyday the accuracy of the test. Some of the people in her classes are just downright stupid.

But on October fourteen, she didn't dwell on it. For some reason, the school day goes by smoothly, even though what's to come is anything but smooth. And so she walks home, in peace, alone. Thalia and Luke live a couple miles in the other direction of her, so they can't walk together, which is fine, because Annabeth loves New York so much, she feels safe wherever she goes. So she walks home carelessly, almost skipping as she gets on the subway, three stops in the opposite direction.

Fifteen minutes later, the subway pulls into her station, and she gets off, still in the same state of mind, happy and naive. Once she arrives home, like any other day, she begins her homework, which usually takes about four hours a day. This day though, it seems the teachers have had some mercy, so her workload is cut down to two hours. She gets excited about this, because it means she can talk to Pylos.

"Hey P," she sends him a message, knowing he'll respond sometime in the next five minutes.

Pylos's response comes soon, "Hey A," he writes, "how's your next blog post going?''

Annabeth frowns. She's had an idea block for the last couple of days, and she really needs to write something soon. She likes to post at least once a week, and she's been radio silent since last week's post. "Not great. I have no clue what I'm going to write."

"How about Percy Jackson's triumphs again?" Pylos replies, with a winky face next to it. Annabeth shakes her head. What is his thing with Percy Jackson? Funnily enough, Percy Jackson hasn't found himself in a scandal anytime in the last couple of weeks, so she has no material.

In response, she tells him, "I'm rolling my eyes at you."

"Do you seriously want ideas from me?" Pylos says, instead of his usually snarky remark. "I think that you should write about that new movie coming out. The one about the dog?"

Annabeth rolls her eyes at him. He's ridiculous. "Which one? There's thousands."

"The new one, I forget it's name." Pylos continues. "Or is that not your usual?" He says, referencing the fact about thirty percent of her articles are about the same person, Percy Jackson, and his various scandals with women and other creators.

"Oh shut up," Annabeth says, "it's a good source of viewing. But I was thinking about Greek language. It'd take some researching, but it's something I've thought about a lot."

Pylos doesn't reply for a couple of minutes. He's probably occupied because of the different time zones. Annabeth can understand. "If you think you want to, that's cool. Do it, I'd read it."

Annabeth smiles at her phone. "Okay, I guess that's it. I should probably get to work then."

"Yeah," Pylos says, "good luck."

She drops her phone unceremoniously on the floor, and then picks it up quickly, hoping that it isn't broken or anything. Once she sees the screen is uncracked as usual, she sets it down (this time, lightly) on her bed, before walking over to her computer, and sitting on her desk with a big harumph. She has a couple of links already ready, saved in a big folder entitled "greece," so she knows where to start.

And now, she starts researching. This can take days or hours depending on how much Annabeth already knows about it. And Annabeth knows virtually nothing about the greek language, so she's going to have to research. A lot.

…

It's eight pm at night when Annabeth starts to worry. Her mom usually texts her by now, telling her how late she'll be. Sometimes, she's on time, sometimes it's an hour late, and sometimes, she comes back the next day. But her mother never forgets to text. She knows how Annabeth gets when she's nervous.

And she's getting really nervous. Looking at her phone over and over again, clicking it off and on. She paces back and forth, a feeling of constipation coming over her. What the hell happened?

Annabeth's fear could be irrational. But it could also be true. That's what she's scared of. She's scared something bad has happened to her mother. It's sad to say, but there's a level of likeliness she's been raped, or murder. New York at night, especially for a woman… isn't the safest. But Annabeth blocks that out of her mind. She's probably driving home (yes, her mother is the only New Yorker that actually owns a car), safe. Maybe she's a little late. There's nothing to worry about.

An hour later, she gets really worried. So worried she can't breath. She has to text Thalia and Luke, asking if they've heard anything. Which they obviously haven't. But Annabeth still calls Thalia, sobbing uncontrollably. Because she's terrified. So fucking terrfied.

Thirty minutes later, she gets a call from an unknown number. She normally doesn't answer these, but she's prepared for the worse, so she pressed the "answer call" button.

"Is this Annabeth Chase, Athena Chase's daughter?"

Annabeth nods hurridenly, wiping tears away from her eyes. "Yes, yes this is." She says, choking back a sob.

"Annabeth, there's been an accident," whoever's behind the phone says, "this is the ER."

And that's when Annabeth stops breathing. "What?" She stutters, wiping snot from her nose, eyes red.

"Your mother, she was driving, and got into an accident. We're treating her now, but she has some really bad damage. Her head was-"

Annabeth cuts the operator off as fast as she can "How long?"

The operator pauses. "We don't know yet. Her injuries could be fatal, but the situation is still evolving."

"Is she concussed?" Annabeth continues. God, if she's concussed and Annabeth won't be able to say one last goodbye, she doesn't know how she'll cope.

The operator speaks, "yes. She is."

Annabeth lets out another gurtial noise, and the operator tries to calm her down. "How fast can you get there?" They say gently.

"I don't have a damn car, it's New York!" Annabeth screams into the phone.

The operator remains calm. Are they an actual person? She wonders. "Do you have a friend?"

Annabeth stutters, and continues to sob, not being able to hold back the flood of emotions going through her. "A friend?" She says, and first thinks of Pylos. But of course, she can't call him. "I think so." Thalia and Jason, her brother, have a car they share. Her mom is rich, and also absent, but she has to be able to help her. "I— please, keep her alive as long as you can."

"Okay," they say. "And ma'am?"

Annabeth looks up to her ceiling, hoping no more tears will fall. "What?" She says.

"I sincerely hope your mother will come out okay."

Annabeth hangs up the phone, and stares at her wall for a long time. And then she screams at the top of her lungs, and calls Thalia. "I need a ride to the ER," she says, between disconnected sobs and moans. "Please, drive me to the ER."

"What's going on Annabeth?" Thalia asks, and then pauses. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

Thalia arrives ten minutes later, probably with a bunch of speeding tickets now. She doesn't ask Annabeth questions, just simply beckons her to come in, and Annabeth does so.

They drive to the ER in silence, except for Annabeth's cries. She tries to halt them when she sees Thalia looking at her sympathetically, but she can't.

And when they arrive at the ER, they say the words that will forever terrify Annabeth. "We did all we could."

She doesn't stop crying for days. Her father isn't going to come, he's off with his damn trophy wife. All he does is pay for child support, doesn't even send her Birthday cards. She doesn't expect him to contact her just because his ex-wife died. Hell, he probably doesn't remember her, living the perfect life he lives in Los Angeles. She's heard little things about him, the fact he's a screen-writer, his new wifes a model, he has two kids, but she doesn't care. Her mother's gone, and now Annabeth doesn't have anywhere to go. The best she can do, is hope that Thalia will let her stay at her home. But obviously, she can't stay there forever, she needs to find a way to sustain herself. She's practically an orphan now, there's nothing you can say to deny that.

And Annabeth can't stop thinking about how she could have prevented this. She can't stop pondering, if she had told her mother to stay home, if she had texted her, tried to make sure she was okay, she could have stopped this all from happening. It's all my fault, she thinks, over and over again. It's like she has echolalia or some shit like that. She can't stop it, she can't stop thinking about how this is all her fault. Everyone tells her it's not, but that doesn't help Annabeth because of her messed up brain chemistry. Annabeth feels herself changing, wanting to hide herself, and she knows she'll never be the same again. Her thoughts just keep spiraling. She can't stop it. Her mother's gone. Forever.

She had one person and now she's gone. One family member, one person she can rely on. Annabeth has half the mind to get angry at her mom, but she knows that won't help. But now she has no one at all. No one.

…

~the loss is immeasurable, but so is the love left behind~

Jesus Christ that was a rough start. But of course, needed in my eyes. I've been wanting to write a story like this for a while, it's something I definitely enjoy. This is going to be less Cinderella-like, and more about the music industry, but still, I hope you enjoy.

Thanks so much for reading! Leave a review, I'd love to know what you think about this first chapter. Stay safe and healthy!

TheLil'Lion