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Fanfic / Laying Waste To Halloween

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Laying Waste To Halloween is an alternate universe Percy Jackson and the Olympians Fanfic. It was first published on the 31st of October 2020 and its 35th and final chapter was published on the 5th of March 2021. The work's creator is cruelhighways on Archive of Our Own.

This fic follows Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Piper McLean and Leo Valdez's lives in an Alternate Universe. In this fic, they are not demigods, live near eachother and are friends since childhood. Percy's living situation is dramatically worse than in the source material, as a result of his mother not being present and his stepfather being much worse than in canon. Piper is different in subtler ways, in this fic, she doesn't act out to get her father's attention and chooses not to hide that her father is a famous actor. Annabeth gets along well with her stepmother, and doesn't run away.


Laying Waste To Halloween contains examples of:

  • Abusive Parents: Gabe is physically abusive towards Percy.

  • Addled Addict: When Annabeth became addicted to drugs, she didn't speak to her friends for a year and the drugs have a bad effect on her physically and mentally.

  • Alcoholic Parent: Gabe is Percy's stepfather and he's an alcoholic.

  • Cigarette of Anxiety: At the end of the fic, Jason does smoke less, but he still smokes in stressful situations.

  • Descent into Addiction: In the beginning of the fic, Annabeth hasn't tried drugs, but around the midpoint she starts to become addicted to drugs.

  • Don't Make Me Take My Belt Off!: When Percy is late home, doesn't treat Gabe with respect or hides things from him, Gabe physically abuses him.

  • Emancipated Child: Both Annabeth and Percy were emancipated from their parents. Annabeth because her mother can't take care of her because of her mental health issues and Percy because his mother is in prison and his stepfather is abusive.

  • Financial Abuse: When Gabe finds out Percy has a job, he goes to his workplace and asks his boss how much he earns. Luckily, his boss told Gabe that Percy earns a quarter of what he actually does, so even though Gabe still takes Percy's money, it's less than what he would otherwise.

  • Going Cold Turkey: [[spoiler: Annabeth tried to do this because she was addicted to her anxiety medication. Unfortunately it made her sick and she had to slowly go off her medication.

  • Minor Living Alone: Justified. Both Percy and Annabeth have been emancipated from their parents.

  • Miscarriage of Justice: Sally was charged with attempted murder, even though it was really self-defense against Gabe.

  • Missing Mom: Percy's mom, Sally, isn't around. It is later revealed that it's because she's in prison.

  • Must Have Nicotine: In the beginning of the fic, Jason is addicted to cigarettes.

  • No Medication for Me: Annabeth is both addicted to her anxiety meds and feels that it makes her less creative. At first she tries drugs as a replacement for it, but quickly becomes addicted to both them and her anxiety meds. Then she tries to quit them entirely but she gets sick.

  • Off the Wagon: After Annabeth started to recover, she relapsed occasionally.

  • Parental Neglect: Gabe doesn't give food to Percy if he's late for dinner and sometimes doesn't even have food in the house for him.
    • Ever since Annabeth's father, Fredrick's death, Helen has been absent and unable to be there for her remaining family.

  • Recovered Addict: Annabeth eventually recovers from her drug addiction, though she relapses once in a while.

  • The Alcoholic: Gabe frequently drinks alcohol.

  • Wicked Stepmother: Gender Inverted, exaggerated. Gabe is an abusive father towards Percy, and he's Percy's stepfather.

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