Chapter Text
The war was lost. Annabeth knew it, everyone at camp knew it, and the gods knew it. The moment Zeus and Hera got captured, it was obvious the war was lost. It was through sheer stubbornness and fear that kept everyone going.
Annabeth’s eyebrows creased together as she stared down at the newest satyr reports in front of her. Her desk was cluttered with all sorts of junk ranging from old Snickers wrappers to empty stapler cartridges. She reached over and moved a few books aside to grab her reading glasses. This satyr’s writing in particular was so horrid that she was partially convinced that it wasn’t even written in English.
A tired sigh escaped her nose as she kept on reading. She really shouldn’t have expected good news, she couldn’t even remember the last time she’d gotten good news since Olympus decided to close down. It seemed like every week, things were getting worse. Camp recruitment was down, mass casualties on quests, and absolutely no clue where some of the gods even were.
Annabeth slid the letter off to the side and buried her face in her hands. Her job was a hard one. Everyone looked to her for what to do. You’d expect people would look to Thalia or Nico, or anyone else for guidance but no, they all chose her. Just because she helped Thalia lead the defense of Manhattan didn’t mean she was some sort of tactical genius who made no mistakes. If that were the case, plenty more people would’ve pulled through.
What made it worse was that she knew she was irreplaceable. None of her siblings had the desire or the experience to fill her shoes. Thalia would never do it, she had trouble staying seated at a desk for more than five minutes. Nico was too busy brooding. Chiron was off recruiting help and finding demigods. Dionysus was too drunk.
When she finally pulled her hands away from her face, she leaned back in her chair, the leather creaking slightly. She looked around her room, a faint ghost of a smile spreading across her face as she eyed the pictures of her, Thalia, and Luke. Those were simpler times back then. She’d give anything to go back.
A knock at the door made Annabeth jump, nearly knocking over a cup of water that she’d completely forgotten was even there. She looked at the door with a glare. Barely anyone came to visit her and those who did usually came with bad news. After all, no one dared to venture into Cabin Six to find the private chambers of the scary daughter of Athena.
“Come in.” She called.
The door opened to reveal Zane. At the sight of him, her glare softened. He was actually one of the only sons of Aphrodite that she got along with. He was actually decently smart, reliable in a fight, quite good looking,and funny. In a way, he reminded her of Luke. He had blue eyes just like him and had a sense of humor. Other than that, their similarities ended there. Zane had dark brown hair, not blonde, and he was a bit more buff than Luke.
“Hey, Annabeth.” He stepped into her chambers and shut the door behind himself, “I, uh, came to check on you.”
“Check on me?” She asked with an unimpressed voice.
He sighed, “Sorry, it’s just that no one has seen you for a few days. I just wanted to make sure you were alright.”
Annabeth got up from her chair and marched over to a leather satchel resting on a red velvet couch. “You want to make sure I’m alright? Give these outgoing letters to Travis.” She dangled the satchel at him.
Zane walked over and took the satchel from her, wrapping the strap around his shoulders. She watched him fidget with the strap before letting out an exasperated sigh. She walked over and fixed the strap for him.
“Thanks.” He smiled, “You wanna come with me to Cabin Eleven? Some sunlight might do you some good.”
Annabeth looked back at her desk, mainly at the stack of papers and reports that were begging to be acknowledged. It never really mattered how much work she got done, it never seemed to end. Day in, day out, she was always swamped with work. One break wouldn’t kill her.
“Fine, let me get my jacket.” She said.
Zane waited by the door as she walked over to her coat stand and snatched the faded green army jacket. It was a gift from Thalia and she absolutely refused to leave it, even if it was sweltering hot.
“I gotta say, you really do rock the army look.” Zane said, “And I mean that for real. Most girls I’ve seen are like way too cute to be wearing stuff like that but you pull it off.”
“Are you trying to say I’m not cute?” Annabeth asked, her tone teasing but slightly offended.
He realized his mistake almost immediately and shook his head, “No, no, not at all! I just mean that the jacket fits you, that’s all.”
Annabeth smirked, she liked making people squirm. She’d learned a long time ago that playing nice couldn’t last. Some people were stupid enough to take kindness for weakness so she figured she minus well save them the trouble and show them who exactly they were dealing with. Sure, when she was sixteen, she was that friendly yet tired camper. Now, now she was the twenty-one-year-old battle-hardened de facto leader of Camp Half-Blood. Everyone would learn to respect her, one way or another.
“Well, lead the way, Zaney boy.” She ordered.
Zane’s cheeks colored before he turned to her door and opened it for her. She stepped into the hallway and right away she could hear the sounds of her siblings chattering among themselves. She made her way down the hall, stopping to get a view of her cabin.
Cabin Six was usually busy and today was no different. Her siblings ducked in and out of the almost endless library shelves. Some carried weapons and gear to their bunks. Others walked towards the study area with books and scrolls tucked underneath their arms. Even Malcolm, her second in command, was busy leaning over a war map with four of her other siblings.
As soon as she stepped into the main cabin space, the chatter quieted down. Eyes landed on her, elbows nudged ignorant campers.
“Go back to whatever you all were doing, I’m just going on a walk.” She announced.
Her command had its intended effect. Right away, her cabin sprung back to life. She looked back at Zane who looked around with astonished eyes.
“What did you do to these people?” He asked, meeting her gaze.
“I led them, that’s what I did.” She quipped, “Now come on, let’s get those letters delivered.”
Walking around camp made Annabeth feel even worse. She wanted to turn around and punch Zane in the face for making her come outside. It was like everything she saw was a reminder of the war they lost.
Everyone she walked past nodded at her with respect but that wasn’t what got her. It was the fact that they were all wearing armor and had their weapons close. Their armor plates were scratched and, in some cases, scorched. Their eyes were tired and lifeless, like they’d given up on actually living a long time ago and had just relegated themselves to a life of survival.
Thankfully, Camp Half-Blood itself was relatively unscathed. Annabeth was glad the magical boundaries had held fast, gods knew they’d be dead if they hadn’t. Somewhere beyond the borders was a world she no longer recognized. She hadn’t seen the mortal world in two years, she hated to imagine what it looked like now. She only had satyr reports and a few surviving half-bloods to go off of and none of their intelligence reported anything good.
“This is depressing.” She complained as she walked past the canoe lake.
Zane walked next to her, his hands nervously fidgeting with one another. He’d dropped off the letters already, she was partially wondering why he even bothered to stick around. She guessed he wanted to keep her company.
“It’s not all bad.” He murmured, “We’re alive.”
“Barely.” She turned to him, “When exactly was the last time anyone here was able to go home?”
Zane’s silence was all she needed to hear. Ever since Dionysus delivered the news that Zeus was captured trying to save Hera from Gaea’s forces, no one dared to step foot outside the campgrounds. Ares’s subsequent capture only reaffirmed the idea that going out now would be suicide. If Gaea’s forces could take down gods, demigods stood absolutely no chance.
Annabeth knew why he said what he said. He was trying to stay hopeful. She didn’t share his thought process. She’d seen too many people die or get maimed to stay hopeful. Someday, she and everyone else would find themselves on the battlefield. It might not have been now but that time would come. It was the only guarantee she could make.
“Hey, Annabeth!”
Annabeth stopped and turned to look. Right away, her eyes landed on a certain daughter of Zeus walking over.
Thalia was dressed in full black camo, a sign she was about to head out. She had her signature bottle of mace strapped to her waist and her bracelet wrapped around her forearm. She looked like a tomboy getting ready to play a game of paintball. She was just missing the gun.
“Thalia.” She smiled, “Going somewhere?”
“Yeah,” She stopped, “I want to go see if there’s any more half-bloods we can bring back.”
Annabeth admired Thalia in a way. Unlike her, she hadn’t given up on finding unclaimed half-bloods. She genuinely believed there were still half-bloods out there who hadn’t been turned into monster chow. Annabeth’s view was far more cynical.
“Take someone with you.” She advised, “Take Nico with you.”
Thalia sighed and rolled her eyes, “You better not be saying that because everyone ships us. We work good together and that’s it.”
“You two work maybe a little too good.” Annabeth said, “All I’m saying is bring him along. I don’t want anyone going out without a buddy, the last thing we need is for you to get captured.”
“Right.” Thalia rubbed the back of her neck. She flashed Annabeth and Zane a smile before bidding farewell and marching off towards the Hades Cabin.
Annabeth watched Thalia with slightly concerned eyes. She’d been worried about Thalia since they defeated Luke. While she bore the title of being the one who distracted him, Thalia was the one who drove the knife into his weak spot. If anyone had a claim on killing Luke, it was her. It was cruel in a way, the one person who loved Luke the most had to be the one who stabbed him to death.
“Look at her outfit and tell me she doesn’t look like a budget Navy SEAL.” Zane said.
Annabeth chuckled behind her hand, it was hard to disagree. She looked over at Zane and smacked his arm, “Be quiet, I don’t need her zapping you to death because you decided to be a smartass.”
“I’m just saying.” Zane raised his hands in surrender.
Annabeth sighed and resumed her walk. Her legs were a tiny bit sore from sitting so long. She honestly needed a change of clothes, she couldn’t even remember the last time she’d changed. She’d been wrapped up in too much work.
After a while of walking together, she heard a scream from the canoe lake. Right away, her hand drifted towards her thigh where her dagger usually was but when she looked over at the source, she just found a daughter of Aphrodite being thrown off the pier by two laughing sons of Hermes.
She gritted her teeth, how could anyone find the time to relax given their current situation? She could hardly even sleep at night yet here were these three playing around like the world wasn’t completely fucked.
She hadn’t even realized she had started marching over until Zane caught her by the arm, something that surprised her so much she’d frozen. No one, and absolutely no one, ever put their hands on her. Not even Thalia.
“Annabeth, stop. They’re just relaxing. We all need some time to relax.” He said, trying to soothe her.
Annabeth wretched her arm out of his hand, “Whatever.”
Zane eyed her cautiously, “We should go, you have work to do, right?”
At the mention of work, Annabeth could feel the rage leaving her. Her shoulders slumped before she turned to start walking back to her cabin, “Right. Come get me for dinner.”