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2025-08-25
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Misplaced Aggression

Summary:

Percy couldn't believe what he was hearing. They had known each other for four year. Four years. And she was seriously calling him that over a slight moment of weakness because he found out he was going to die in a week.

What was Wise Girl on?

Or

Percy actually responds to the You're a Coward line.

Notes:

This is definitely one of my shorter fics. But rereading The Last Olympian for purposes of writing definitely brought out feelings about certain dialogue. Because boy did I not like this particular line of dialogue.

So yeah this is a bit of a vent fic. Because there was definitely some things that should have been addressed. Because I get that Annabeth was misplacing her agression (thus the name of the fic) for the gods knows how many time in the series. When she was actually angry at Chiron.

But Percy absolutely did not deserve that especially when he rightfully he's been helping with the war effort in canon for the last year.

Like its one thing when Triton is stupid and makes a comment and isn't aware of the behind the scene stuff. Its another thing when Annabeth who is aware of the stuff makes the same comment in a different vein. Like uh uh you've been around each other for a full year you know better. Triton at least has the excuse of being too busy to know it. Even if it that doesn't fully excuse him of being an ass.

Anyways rant aside thanks to dragonslayer24 for editing.

Please leave a comment when done.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

“- You’re a coward, Percy Jackson.”

He stared at her for a second honestly not believing what he was hearing. It sounds so absurd he almost wants to laugh. He can’t believe he’s hearing these words from Annabeth from all people.

This is honestly something he almost would have expected more out of Clarisse if he was being honest. But then again for all her gruffness. At least Clarisse knew just what he had been doing for the last year.

Heck this was basically what Triton had accused him of. But at the very least Triton had never met him before today. So he at least had the excuse of not knowing he had been actively fighting in a war for the past year as far as Percy was aware. 

But Annabeth?

As far as he knew she didn't have that same excuse so he had to be wondering if Annabeth had just up and forgotten all of that. In an apparent bout of jealousy over one singular trip to say goodbye to his Mom and Paul. Before Kronos’ full born invasion kicked off. Since he didn’t know if he would ever see them again.

“You actually thought I was going to take Rachel up on that trip?”

She honestly thought he was going to take that trip with Rachel? Genuinely? With a week left before the end of the world? Sure he had fantasized about it. But that was all it was a fantasy. A means of escape at the end of the day. There was no way he could actually vanish to the Bahamas for three days right before the war. 

He knew that.

He thought Annabeth would have known that. They had known each other for over four years. He thought she would have would know him better by now. Apparently not.

“You were talking about it with her.”

Percy pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. “Yeah because she offered as a friend. But I also have been crazy busy with the war effort. You know that. I only went home because I wanted a chance to say goodbye to Mom and Pual before my 16th just in case-” He cut off but he didn’t need to finish the point.

Even before he knew about the Prophecy he knew there was a chance he might die in the war. And he had wanted a chance to say goodbye to his Mom and stepdad. He didn’t want to leave things open with his Mom if he could afford it. 

And while Beckendorf showing up meant he hadn’t been able to give them a formal goodbye. At least he had been able to see them one last time. Which had been important to him with the final confrontation of Kronos on the horizon.

Even more so now that he knew the Great Prophecy. It had been important to make that last trip home since with the war going into real overdrive he hadn’t been sure if he would see them again. Those last few days in Manhattan had been about saying goodbye. 

He had told Annabeth all of this before he had left. And sure he had mentioned the trip with Rachel in passing. But he had thought she would have been smart enough to put two and together that he wouldn’t go on it.

Not after all the effort he had put into the war effort. He had been on so many war missions in the last year. Why all of a sudden would he go on a relaxing vacation to the Bahamas?

Did after all these years she really not know him that well?

“This was never about seeing Rachel. That was just a bonus. I wanted to say goodbye to my Mom and Paul. Just like you wanted to say goodbye to your Dad. ”

He knows for a fact that she had visited San Francisco a few times when he was away. And he never had faulted her once for it. Because he had wanted to see his Mom as well.

He only even brought it up now. Because she was deciding to use him going home now all of a sudden to dangle it over his head as sudden accusation of him being something he never was. 

If he was a coward for going home to say goodbye to his Mom and Paul. Then she was just as much. But he would never once make such an accusation. Because he knew she wasn’t.

So why did she think that was a valid accusation?

“You weren’t back at camp yet.” She counters with a huff.

He barely resists an eye roll at that. “Yeah because I was planning to go home and say goodbye to my Mom. Spend one last night at the apartment if Beckendorf hadn’t shown up and then come home. Be for real Wise Girl I can’t seriously believe that part of your brain thought I was going to take an actual vacation to the Bahamas in the middle of planning and fighting in a war. ”

The more he thought about this the more the disbelief was starting to give away to growing resentment and somewhat anger. He couldn’t believe this was an actual conversation they were having at this point.

Four years.

Four years.

They had known each other for four years. How was this an actual conversation they were having after knowing each other at this point?

“Are we just going to ignore everything I did for the last year. Just because I wanted to entertain a fantasy for a single fleeting moment? Seriously Wise Girl?”

He takes a moment to take a breath. Since just because he is angry at Annabeth. Doesn’t mean the Long Island Sound deserves to have a storm that he can sense brewing from his emotions brought down on it for her ridiculous accusations.

“If you want to get mad at someone for keeping me away from camp then get mad at Chiron. He was the one that decided that it was the best choice to keep information from me again.”

Which by the Gods he was getting tired of. He wasn’t sure why the centaur kept doing this. He kept saying it was ‘for his own protection’ or something along those lines. Honestly he had long lost track of Chiron’s excuses at this point. 

All it did was just make Percy exhausted half the time. He had to find out information from other campers which left him looking incompetent at best most of the time depending on who he was working with. 

And now they were about to be heading into a big giant battle against Kronos. Knowing that Chiron had been undermining him like this…even if it was supposedly well meaning. 

Like he had no clue how much of a problem these much smaller problems on the smaller missions were going to be in the final confrontation were going to be. But he was going to have to assume that they were going to assume that they were going to have be some kind of issue. Since they definitely were not going to disappear overnight as much as he would overnight.

And just what was the point of Chiron introducing them considering he knew the prophecy?

“Do I have to remind you of the fact that I’ve been running missions for over a year on and off. The Andromeda was the most recent in a long line of many to help try and whittle down the Titan’s Army. Ask anyone around camp if you want to conveniently forget what I was doing when I wasn’t with my Mom back home.”

Like sure he had spent time back home. He was not going to deny that he had spent time with his mother. 

But he had also made a point to be an active presence at camp. To help make sure that he was a constant presence in the war effort. So when Kronos did start the invasion there were far less monsters to fight. And that he could say he had helped with it. 

He wanted to help as much as possible. 

And he could only help where he knew he was needed.

Which was why he found people withholding information so infuriating. 

“You still acted scared about the prophecy!”

He can’t help it. He laughs. “Wise Girl I just found out I’m probably going to die in less than a week. You’ve had six years to come to terms with this. Anyone in their right might would be a bit scared.”

Annabeth opens her mouth to respond, then closes it with a click. Seeming to realize he’s actually right and having nothing to give in her defense. 

“If you didn’t want me to be scared about the prophecy then you should have been upfront about that line when we were talking to me about it when I was 13. And told me you actually read the whole thing. Instead of only parts of it.”

Because yeah he still remembered that.

He wasn’t really that mad about that lie to be honest. It was a minor thing in the overall scheme of things. But she didn’t get to hold over the fact that he was freaked out about being scared of dying.

When she had withheld that piece of information three years ago. When she had known the truth back then. And had told him otherwise.

“Percy-”

“Look I’m not resentful or anything. Probably Chiron told you not to tell me or something I’m guessing.” Since Chiron did have a habit of doing stuff like that. “But that doesn’t change the fact that I literally found out about this not even an hour ago and you can’t just expect someone to accept something you had years to process in less than an hour.”

That wasn’t fair.

He loved Annabeth, he did, but she sometimes struggled to understand where he was coming from emotions wise it felt like at times. And this felt like one of those times.

Where it felt like that she had already moved on from the fact he was going to die. Or had processed the fact he was going to. He wasn’t sure which it was at this point. She expected he needed to also.

Despite the fact they had a whole lot of different time to come to terms with it. And that wasn’t fair on him.

“But calling me a coward? That was uncalled for, Wise Girl. I’m a lot of things. But that was a low blow.”

“You were going to-”

Maybe he was just tired of talking in circles. Maybe he just ran out of patience. Maybe it was just the absurdity at this point. But that got his temper going. “What part of that conversation ever indicated I was being cowardly?”

“I-”

“Please answer because I would love an answer. Because all I was trying to do was ask you questions about weird demigod dreams I was having about Rachel. Something I thought was relevant to maybe the war and the invasion. You know the thing that is probably happening in the next few days ?”

They both knew why she had snapped about Rachel. It was because she was being territorial again. It was because she had a hard time with him making friends again. Especially friends that were girls. But she had a hard time admitting that out loud.

So she tended to blame it on anything and everything else. Like calling him a coward because she thought he was running away from the prophecy. 

Which yeah he wasn’t going to deny he was a bit freaked out by it. Anyone naturally would be freaked out by finding out they were going to die in a few days time.

But he hadn’t been planning to run away from his duties. 

“Gods, Wise Girl do I need to remind you what I spent the last year actually doing when I wasn’t back home in Manhattan attending classes. Or are you that dead set on this narrative just because you’re jealous of me having a friend among several other problems that you want to make false, painful accusations?”

Because that was the truth of it.

Annabeth couldn’t handle him having another friend. So she lashed out in a way that wasn’t acceptable and she deep down knew it wasn’t acceptable. To accomplish…what? 

He didn’t even know what she was hoping to get here. Make him not hang out with Rachel? Which he guessed was a possibility. But…he was starting to realize he shouldn’t have to give up one friendship for another.

He really did like Annabeth. But what they had going on…it wasn’t healthy. Not now at least. This wasn’t the first time they had had friendship problems. He had tried to make some friends at camp and it had failed because of how territorial Annabeth got.

And because Chiron wouldn’t do anything about her behavior here it made it harder.

At least away from camp things were a bit simpler. Not black and white as they probably should be as seen by the Rachel situation. But simpler.

But that being said right now wasn’t really the time to be reevaluating his friendship with Annabeth. Not right before they were going to war. Not right before he seemed to be destined to die. 

As much as things sucked. As much as he probably needed to reevaluate how his friendships really were. And maybe establish better boundaries with Annabeth. That needed to wait until after the war if he survived by some miracle. 

Annabeth’s voice snaps him out of his thoughts. “ I am not jealous.”

Percy could probably think of a dozen examples to the contrary. But at this point he could see this argument was done. Annabeth wasn’t listening and he was tired. She wasn’t going to apologize for the painful comment. If she ever apologized.

(Which was pretty much never with her.) 

Instead he decides it's better to just walk away from the argument. 

“Where are you going?”

“To find some space. Because I can tell this argument is going nowhere. Because you can’t see the obvious issues going on here.”

It’s only when he’s been away from Annabeth for several minutes that it hits like a ton of bricks. He has no one to talk to about how this whole conversation made him feel.

He can’t talk to his Mom about this. She already is worried enough about him without knowing that he is probably going to die next week. He’s not going to dump this on her.

His Dad is already stressed to his limit fighting a war under the ocean. He doesn’t need this added to it. Even if he had the time to talk to him right now. Which Percy knows he doesn’t.

Chiron might give him some pleasantries. But considering how close he is to Annabeth he is more likely to take her side on the matter than his. So that won’t help with the matter. 

And even if he decided to start talking to other kids now, what was the point? He was going to probably be dead in a few days anyway. Any relationships he did make now would be fleeting and probably just hurt everyone around him more in the long run.

And well he isn’t really close enough to anyone at camp to really talk to about this. They won’t really understand what he’s going through at the moment. 

So he’s truly alone on the matter.

And that maybe hurts on a soul deep level just as much as Annabeth’s comments. Because it reminds him in some ways as much as he loves her at times. How difficult being her friend can be. 

Because it also can be such a lonely place in times like this because of her territorialism.

Notes:

Anyway that's a wrap for now.

Don't have much else to say for now. Kinda got my vent out in the beginning.

Got some stuff with my beta but not sure what will get back to me next. So it's just a matter of timing.

Anyway please remember to leave a comment on the way out.