She will not be broken
A Heroes of Olympus story
©-Rick Riordan
Prompt number one: "Broken, just another word for defeated. Fancy yet detached, yes, but meaning is one in the same."

I miss my mac. T-T My mac was technically owned by my school until two years later when I graduate to high school, so either way it was gonna get taken for summer. But I kinda miss it . . . but it feels good to be back on my old PC after about nine months. Just not used to it anymore . . . eh, I'll be fine, I catch on quick.

Enough of my mac and PC. This is a one-shot that I am submitting for bookluva98's challenge contest thingy. WHOO! MY FIRST CHALLENGE SUBMITTIAN (sp?)! I feel accomplished, lolz. If I get any fact wrong, or miss something, or anything like that, sorry! I had to edit it so it wasn't OOC. I'm afraid it is a little, though. Sad, sad, sad. But I digress. ON WITH THE NOW TOTALLY CLICHED ONE-SHOT!

Annabeth Chase was tough. She was a warrior, a demigod; a teacher (to some of the younger, newer additions to camp) and the architect of Olympus too. She's been to war and fought, gotten some wounds (severe or otherwise), seen some things that would make forty year old men wanna pee their pants (but of course they wouldn't, seeing as how "manly" they are). She's broken a bone, dislocated a shoulder, gotten stabbed (with a poisoned knife at that), a nasty head wound, and so much more. And she's gone through all that while barely shedding a tear or two.

Never in her demigod life, meaning after she met Thalia and Luke, has she bawled her eyes out. Besides the time she thought Percy was dead, or that she was going to lead a near impossible quest into a cruel and never ending Labyrinth. It's understandable to cry when you're in a situation like that. But if not, she believed that tears were a waste of time. They wouldn't do any good. Crying over spilled milk won't get it back in the cup, so crying over something else won't fix anything either.

So why on earth would Annabeth cry over anything at all? She was probably in her cabin, working on some extra details she might've missed about Olympus, or maybe help Leo with the Argo II, right?

Wrong.

Annabeth Chase was sobbing under her covers in the Athena cabin.

Yes, she was doing it quietly so no one would hear (some people like the Stolls would never let her live that down when she gets a hold of herself), but sometimes she had to catch herself. It made her angry at herself for crying, even a little, and whenever she stopped, she would just start again five minutes later at another thought.

You would think it's because of something big. Perhaps she was fired from being the architect of Olympus? Never going to happen, all the gods love the work (although certain gods, like Hera, are being too stubborn to admit that). Maybe some bad news, like the Argo II blueprints were lost, along with something important or valuable to her, like Daedalus's laptop.

But again, the answer to those suggestions would be no.

Annabeth Chase, independent and prideful (to a fault) daughter of Athena, who can kick anyone's butt with one hand and nothing else, was bawling her eyes out over a boy.

Specifically, a certain MIA son of Poseidon. Perseus Jackson, the hero and savior of Olympus, fulfiller of the Great Prophecy. And, of course, Annabeth's boyfriend.

If Annabeth saw any other girl behaving the way she was right now, she probably would've slapped them, or at least get annoyed. Maybe shake 'em out of it and tell them that love is illogical and it's better off single. Something for behaving so overdramatically over some boy.

That might have happened . . . . when she was like, twelve.

The thing is . . . she's not twelve anymore. And this wasn't just "some boy". No, this was Percy Jackson, her closest and best friend (besides Thalia and Grover, obviously). She can still remember the time she first laid eyes on him. It reminds her of that one Taylor Swift song. What was that called again . . ?

Love Story, she mused, wiping a few tears and smiling at the thought. Well, the love part was correct . . . eventually.

First, she had to warm up to him. She thought he was an idiot. She was right about that one. But she had also thought this would be another son of Demeter or something, someone plain, and usual. Nothing special.

For once, she was happy to be wrong.

He was special in almost every possible way. Nobody else can have gorgeous sparkling sea green eyes like his, or such dark raven black hair.

And it wasn't just looks. His personality was different too. Go to any other high school, and most boys would either play with girls, or be a doofus. But Percy . . . he really does care. Getting Zeus's Master Bolt as a cover to save his mom, going through the Sea of Monsters (which had Circe, Charybdis and Scylla, Polyphemous) to save Grover, trekking to the other side of the United States to save Artemis (And me . . . She smiled at the thought). So loyal . . . while it was dangerous, it really is sweet to see how caring and loyal he is.

These thought just made a few more tears fall, before the dam burst and she was crying again.

"Annabeth!" a voice outside the cabin called. "Are you in there?"

"Yeah." She sniffed. "Can you leave? I wanna be alone."

"Nope!" This time it was a different person. Outside the cabin, the person tried to open the door, but found that it was locked. So she had to resort to drastic measures.

"Stand back," Rachel warned.

Piper looked warily at her, and asked, "Why?" but took a step back just in case.

No sooner had she said that, the door opened when Rachel kicked it open with a loud "Hi-ya!"

Piper stared wide-eyed at the now broken lock, and asked, "What kind of a girl-who's-father-is-trying-to-make-her-into-a-socialite knows how to do that!"

Rachel shrugged.

"I take karate," she said. "I've always wanted to do that."

Piper rolled her eyes, then said, "Annabeth?"

"In here," her muffled voice came, followed by a sniff and the sound of someone blowing their nose.

Rachel pulled off the covers, then said, "Tsk, tsk, Annabeth. I really didn't think you'd do something like this."

Annabeth sniffed and said, "Me neither. I never thought that I'd have a boyfriend and like him so much."

Rachel raised an eyebrow.

"Like?" she asked. "How can you not tell you're in love? Look at you! You were so calm and together earlier, what's the difference now?"

Annabeth wiped away a few of her tears, and glared at the Oracle.

"First of all, we've only been dating for a few months." That was a lie. She knew that if he was still here, it would have been exactly five months, twenty-eight days, and four hours since they got together. But he wasn't . . .

"We can't be in love y—"

"But you've been through so much together!" Rachel interrupted. "You loved each other way earlier, platonic or otherwise!"

"Second," Annabeth went on, glaring even harder at the redhead, "Earlier, it had been only three days. Now it's been almost over two months. It's looking more hopeless with each day. What have they done to him? Can I even recognize him anymore? Is he even ali—"

"You finish that sentence, Chase, and I will make you go mad using my Oracle powers."

Piper, who had been just sitting awkwardly on one of Annabeth's half-sibling's bunk and watching the whole exchanged, asked, "Can you even do that?"

Rachel gave a rather creepy smirk, and said, "That's for me to know, and for you to hope you never find out."

Piper suppressed a shudder.

"Back on topic!" Rachel said. "Annabeth, this isn't you. As far as I know, you've never done anything like this."

"I haven't," said girl muttered. "But I've never exactly liked anyone this much."

"Oh, again with the like, how many times do I have to tell you that you are in love!"

"About as many times I need to remind you that it's none of your business!"

"Oh, that's such a great answer, Chase, really."

"Yeah, well . . . ."

During the two minutes this was going on, Piper was trying to get a word in.

"Guys . . . guys . . . hello? Guys? . . . guys? . . . SHUT UP!"

The two quarreling friends blinked, and faced the daughter of Aphrodite.

"Thank you," she huffed. "How about we do something fun to get you outta your funk, Annabeth?"

The daughter of Athena sniffed and said, "Like what? Everything reminds me of Percy."

"Well yeah . . . but because you're having this argument about whether or not you love him, I thought we should be thinking about Percy."

Annabeth blinked. "Wait, what?"

"I wanna know how you met," Piper explained, "why you like him, stuff like that. Unless you don't wanna tell me."

Rachel put a hand on Piper's forehead and said, "Well, she's not sick . . . her temperature's normal. And she doesn't look possessed by demons . . ."

Piper swatted her hand away. "Okay, so I don't like romance as much as my annoying but loveable—" "Oh, the pun." "—Shut up, Dare. Where was I? Oh yeah, loveable half-siblings, but I am interested in this."

Annabeth blinked again, and asked, "Why?"

Piper shrugged. "It's just . . . Percy's spoken so highly around here—"

"Better hope he is," Annabeth muttered. "Otherwise, I am going to kick their as—"

"As I was saying," Piper glared, "I wanna know what he's like and stuff. I mean, my siblings love talking about you guys so much, and how mom's a genius for making this drama, even though I think she had nothing to do with it."

After a few seconds, Annabeth sighed, and rubbed her temples. Then a flicker of a smile spread across her face, and she grabbed a box out of the bottom of her bunk.

She opened it to see a photo album (two, actually, one was really small), some horn, and other random little things. Piper picked up the horn.

"What's this?" she asked, looking at it.

Annabeth looked a little melancholy, but then smiled, just a tiny bit.

"Well, the first time he came to Camp . . ."

About an hour or two later, Piper and Rachel came out of Cabin 6.

"Wow," Piper said, blinking rapidly. "Percy really did all that?"

Rachel nodded. "Yup. And more, probably, but that would've taken all day to mention."

"Wow . . . now I see why she lik—"

"If you say the word like, I will rip your throat out, Beauty Queen," Rachel threatened. "Did you see the way she looked while she was talking about him? Tell me that's not love, and I'll kick a puppy."

"Psh, you can't kick a puppy. It's not in your nature. And . . . yeah. She really does love him. She just won't admit it."

"Obviously! What do you think I've been trying to tell you people!"

"Well . . ."

While the two friends were bantering, Annabeth was flicking through the photo album. They hadn't seen all of the second one, and the last few pages were mostly about Percy and Annabeth's time together, in contrast to the earlier pictures of any memorable or funny or whatever moment.

Her smile was becoming sadder and more wistful with each page, and when she saw the picture of her and Percy's first "official" kiss, on his sixteenth birthday five months and twenty-eight days ago, her eyes were becoming watery again, and she was positive that she was going to start crying again.

But . . . the past hour or two with her friends got her thinking. Would Percy expect her to be this way? No, he'd want her to keep her head up high.

Not too high, Wise Girl, she can just imagine him say. Can't have you growing an even bigger ego.

He'd want her to be happy, even without him. Because he's such a goofball. Such a Seaweed Brain . . .

Oh, come on, he would've pouted. Am not, Wise Girl! I bet if you look in, you'll find no seaweed in there!

But she can tell he likes the nickname, just like she likes Wise Girl.

She sighed tiredly, then grabbed her iTouch.

It was a gift she got from her dad and . . . Percy. An early (very early) Christmas gift. He was so excited. It was so much, but he waved it off like it was no big deal. Of course.

She put on the ear buds, put it on shuffle, and the first song she heard was:

We were both young when I first saw you

I close my eyes, and the flashback starts

I'm standing there . . .

It's official. Annabeth took out the earphones and wiped away the last of her tears, then went to the bathroom and washed her face. While she was drying her face with a towel, she thought, I am Annabeth Chase, independent daughter of Athena. I will find and save—if needed—Percy Jackson. And I will not be broken. Ever.

Gods, I cannot WAIT for the Son of Neptune! I WANNA SEE WHAT PERCY DOES! And more Percabeth! T-T
MUST. GET. SON. OF. NEPTUNE.
. . .
Anyway, sorry again for any OOCness there may be here, or if I got a fact wrong (it's about midnight, and I'm really tired, and crashing from my sugar high). So yeah . . . anyways, thanks for reading! Expect at least ten other one-shots, since this is again, a challenge by bookluvva98!