A/N: I have a midterm tomorrow, a bunch of reading to do, and I'm starting NaNoWriMo tonight at midnight. Naturally, I'm writing a Percabeth reunion scene and watching The Incredibles. Word up, G-Man. Sooooo many undertones of so many ships, mainly because I can't decide if I like Piper with Leo or Jason. Or Jason with Reyna. Only thing I'm sure about in this fic, really, is Percy with Annabeth, and I'm always sure about that.
The style's a little different than I usually do, just because I feel like this topic required more feelings than words. Also I find it a little odd to be outside Annabeth's head, so it was a little bit of a change from what I normally do.
Also, this will very likely be my last fanfic update until November is over. So the next time I post on here I'll probably be 20! Whoo!
Also, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Okay excessively long author's note over. Thank you for your time :P
Read, review, but please enjoy some shameless Percabeth.
She spent nearly the entire time getting to the stupid Roman camp holding her breath, snapping at everything stupid people were saying, until Leo hit her upside the head.
"Christ on the dashboard, Annabeth, would you quit being so ANGRY?" he said, not looking apologetic at all as Annabeth rubbed her smarting scalp. "And don't give me that look, you know you've been annoying lately. And not even just to me. To everyone."
"Are you saying that you actually deserve it, Leo?" Piper said from where she was going over the blueprints with Jason. She was keeping a definite distance, though, and anyone with half a brain could tell: she was not getting too close until Jason figured out this thing with Reyna.
"I always deserve it," said Leo with a silly grin. He leaned up against the ship's mast. "I'm just saying that she's been way more irritated since we got on this ship."
"Maybe she gets sea-sick," said Jason. "Now can we all please shut up?"
Annabeth watched them all talk like a ping pong match. It seemed like none of them realized she was still sitting there, listening to them talk about her.
"Nah," said Leo, "if she couldn't deal with rocking like this then I have no idea how she deals with Percy rocking–"
"Leo if you finish that sentence," said Annabeth, "I will hit you over the head with your own shoe."
Leo raised an eyebrow. "I was just gonna say since he was the son of the Sea-god he must go crazy when he's sailing. You know, water?" He grinned. "What were YOU thinking?"
Annabeth felt herself blush. "Nothing, shut up, get us to that stupid camp."
She stormed over to the side of the boat, feeling the exhaustion wash over her for about the thousandth time that day. She wasn't trying to be ornery. And she knew it wasn't her. She just missed having someone behind her who knew why she was irritated all the time, someone who could make one move, say one word, and fix it all.
She missed Percy like she never believed. And it wasn't just the boyfriend of it. Percy had been her best friend probably since they were twelve, and losing him for this long, after everything, seemed to have broken something inside her. For a very long time everything she did was focused on getting him back, working on the Argo II, or studying Daedalus' laptop to find any new ideas, but every once in a while one of her siblings would find her sitting on the dock, staring at the sea. She would be serene but sad, silent tears making tracks down her face, and once she didn't have enough resolve left to hurt anymore, she'd get up, sigh in the direction of the ocean, and leave.
She hated feeling this damaged.
Breathing deeply and looking out at the horizon, Annabeth was still silent when Piper came to see her.
"Hey," said Piper, leaning next to her. "Are you okay?"
Annabeth dropped her head into one of her hands and couldn't fight back the sigh. "Maybe," she said in a quiet voice.
Piper moved closer to her, and mimicked her actions. "Okay, look, I know I shouldn't tell you this, but…I think your dreams are correct. I think he remembers you and I'm pretty damned sure that, if nothing else, there's still a huge part of him that loves you more than anything."
Annabeth looked over at Piper. "How could you possibly know that?"
Piper shrugged, staring at the same spot Annabeth's eyes had passed over a few seconds before. "I just know. I sometimes can feel it between people…Some sort of connection that can't break due to time or interference." She looked down at banister. "I felt it in you the day that we met. I had no idea really what it was, but I knew there was something about you that almost everyone else didn't have. I feel it getting stronger as we get closer."
"And it's Percy?" Annabeth asked incredulously. "What, is this kind of thing common?"
Piper shook her head. "I've only felt it when I was around you, and around Clarisse and Chris. No one else. Like, for example, I don't feel it with Jason."
Annabeth had no idea what to say to that. "I…I'm sorry," Annabeth muttered. "I don't –"
Piper looked up at her and grinned. "Don't be sorry!" Piper said. "It means that he has that connection with no one! I don't have to worry about someone else being waiting for him when he goes back!" She nudged Annabeth's shoulder with her own. "Come on, Annabeth, don't worry."
Annabeth managed a small smile. "You really think he remembers me?" she asked in a quiet voice, not daring to believe it.
Piper sighed. "I really do. There's…There's something there with you. And I can tell – you fought through hell to save him, he'll fight through hell to save you."
Annabeth opened her mouth to say something, anything to try to convey how much she had needed someone to convince her, that she was about to scream with happiness because yes, for once, something might end well, when Leo screamed from the wheel, "ANNABETH! WE NEED YOU!"
Piper and Annabeth exchanged a quick look. "Uhoh."
The two girls sprinted over to where Leo was looking up, horrified, at the mast. The top had cracked off, leaving a very spindly piece holding it together.
"Which one of you tried to get a bird's eye view?" Annabeth asked with a glare as she peered around the mast, looking for the major damage.
Leo pointedly looked away, and Annabeth groaned.. "Of course."
After brief deliberation, Annabeth determined the proper way to prop up the mast until they reached the Roman camp. "Use – wait, no, let me." She directed Jason, Piper and Leo all around the boat, leaving Chiron to step out of the way as she barked instructions.
Once everything was repaired (as well as it could be) Chiron grinned. "There's our Annabeth," he said with a sigh. "Welcome back."
Annabeth wanted to bark out some grating comment, but settled instead for a snarky grin. "You bet your rear," she said. "Leo, how much longer?"
He shrugged and turned the map over in his hands for a few minutes. "We're, um," he said, squinting his eyes, "sort of…Here?"
"Oh, give me that," said Piper as she rolled her eyes. "Ah!" she said. "We're really close now."
"I would have gotten it eventually," said Leo, frowning.
Piper laughed and bumped his hip with hers. "Quit your frowning, fire boy, we'll get there no matter who's navigating."
Annabeth caught a Jason giving the two of them a look, and raised an eyebrow in his direction. As he met her eyes, he blushed and looked away.
Annabeth could tell he wasn't sure who he was going to end up with, Piper or Reyna or on his own, but she knew he was going to slowly run out of time.
"Annabeth," said Chiron's deep voice, "I know we discussed this earlier," he stepped closer towards her, his back to the others on the ship, "but do you still want to be one of the liaisons between the two camps?"
Annabeth shrugged and leant up against the side of the boat. "I think so."
"But if Percy doesn't remember you –"
"Then I'll do what I did the first time we met," she began, giving him a small grin, "and tell him he drools in his sleep."
Chiron allowed himself a laugh. "I knew it was only a matter of time before you got yourself together. We're all glad to have the real you back."
Annabeth nodded. "It's good to actually be back – well, not like I really went anywhere. But it's nice to be…To be the real me again. I was getting a little boring."
"I'm sure people will find your architecture talk far more interesting."
Annabeth laughed. "Okay, fine, touché."
The next hour was mellow, everyone on the ship preparing for reaching the camp. Leo sent a message to whoever the praetors were. The idea was strange to the Camp Half Blood campers.
"Wait," Piper had said when Jason first remembered that minor detail of his power level, "you people have kids in charge?"
"I'm not a kid," Jason had said, "I had authority in that camp – son of Zeus and all."
Piper had shrugged. "I guess so. But who took your place?"
"I don't want to know," Jason had muttered darkly, "but I have a bad feeling…"
On their way to Camp Jupiter, Jason had begun to seem more and more confident and gained what Annabeth considered to be a little bit of attitude. The second he started questioning her plans and intelligence, she decided, was the second that she'd know that the two camps wouldn't work together.
"You're coming with me when we get there, right?" Jason asked when Leo announced that in only a few minutes they would reach the meeting place.
Annabeth nodded. "You, me, and Chiron together, right?"
Jason nodded. "Of course."
"Land ho!" shouted Leo with a grin as he looked over. "Holy…Whoa."
Whoa was right. Annabeth, okay, fine, was startled and amazed by the design of the Roman camp. It was far larger than Camp Half Blood and, if she was being completely objective, far more organized and developed than her camp.
Though, she supposed, that probably had something to do with the Greek ideology versus the Roman ideology.
"It's…So…Huge."
"It's home," said Jason with a grin. "Finally."
Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "You really missed this place, didn't you."
He nodded. "You'd bet your life Percy missed Camp Half Blood, wouldn't you?"
He had a point. "Okay, you're right," said Annabeth.
Landing was an unfortunate fiasco. Piper nearly got thrown off of the deck and was only saved by Annabeth throwing her entire body against her to flatten the two of them against the deck. Chiron had a white-knuckled grip on the mast and Leo blanched as he held onto the steering wheel as he tried to force the ship to not slam into a stone wall no one had been expecting. Jason went for probably the least dignified option and ran under one of the tables that had been nailed into the deck.
Once they landed – precariously at best – on top of a slight hill, all of them checked for personal damage.
"I think I felt my spleen pop," groaned Piper as Annabeth rolled off of her and cradled her stomach.
"Hey," said Annabeth indignantly, "I probably just saved your life."
Piper curled in on herself and pouted. "That is incorrect," said Piper, "you just got me less dead. Now I'm going to die from internal bleeding and –" Piper stopped short when Leo pelted a shoe at her head. "Ow!" she said indignantly.
"You were babbling again," said Leo. "And I figured a shoe in the face would shut you up."
Annabeth stifled a laugh and Leo shot her a grin. "So, uh, Annabeth," said Jason, clambering out from under the table and smacking his head. He rubbed it. "Ow. Annabeth, should we wear, I don't know, armor or anything?"
Annabeth raised a single eyebrow. "Yeah," she said, "because I'm clearly the one who would know the most about the Roman camp."
Jason's skin reddened for a moment. "I mean…I just…If Percy doesn't remember us…"
"Light armor, just in case," she said, "because I want to believe that he remembers me, but if he doesn't I'm going to have to kick his ass again at swordplay."
Jason looked at her. "And you think you could beat him?"
"Course I could," said Annabeth, walking over to where she and Piper shared a little living chamber, "I can always beat him. I know his weakness."
Jason shrugged. "If you say so. You ready?"
Annabeth nodded and squared her shoulders. "Of course I am. Let's do this."
Chiron, in full centaur form, walked down the gangway first, closely followed by Jason. Annabeth walked a little slowly behind them, trying to assure herself that, yes, no matter what, it was all going to be perfectly fine. It was going to be so awesome her brain would fall out.
Oh wow Annabeth was losing it.
She took a deep breath and shook her head to clear her mind, and walked toward the camp. Before the entrance, though, stood five kids, and behind them a few older people. Maybe not kids, really. All of them looked younger than twenty, but they were all clearly teenagers.
And one of them looked more familiar to her than she could have dreamed.
"Percy," she breathed, fighting back simultaneously a smile and a sob.
"You okay?" Jason asked, his eyes firmly locked on the tall, pretty brunette standing to the right of Percy. Percy was standing also next to a small girl, younger than the rest, who was holding hands with a taller boy, probably her age. Distanced from the others stood a blonde boy with a dark-eyed glare who was staring at Percy with a force that made Annabeth want to take him out in an instant.
Because that wasn't overreacting or anything.
"Yeah," said Annabeth, "yeah, course, I'm fine."
Chiron clapped her on the shoulder. "Praetors," he called. "Do you accept a moment of peace? We come with the intention to unite the camps and to have Percy and Jason back with their rightful groups."
To Annabeth's surprise, Percy and the pretty brunette took a step forward and then, as if a magnet was enacted, Annabeth and Jason found themselves drawn to the two of them.
"Jason," whispered Reyna. "Do…Do you remember –"
Jason nodded solemnly. "Don't worry. I remember everything."
Annabeth was a little startled by the sad look that passed over Reyna's stoic face, but soon after her dark eyes hardened and she nodded curtly. "I would expect nothing less.
Percy and Annabeth looked away from the two of them and at each other at the same time.
"How's that memory loss going, Seaweed Brain? Is kelp the memory center of your brain?" Annabeth asked. Okay, snarky was probably not the best way to go about this.
"Gods, I missed your sarcasm, Wise Girl," said Percy with a desperate gasp. Annabeth decided class and decorum could go nail itself to a wall as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in for a searing, desperate, mind blowing, spark-laden kiss that she could swear lead to her knees shaking a little bit.
Ever since that first kiss they'd been getting better and better at it, and every once in a while she was pretty sure this was different than when normal mortals kiss.
Annabeth and Percy jumped away from each other as Chiron coughed loudly. "I understand you are glad to see each other," Chiron began, "but I must say I'd prefer if the more," he coughed, "intimate parts of your reunion were kept private."
Annabeth felt her face turn bright red but noticed Percy was still holding tightly to her hand.
"I missed you so much," Percy whispered into her ear as Chiron discussed some matters with Reyna, the only praetor there whose memory had never been wiped. "All I could think of was you. All I knew about who I was – it was your name. Then your face. Then your kisses. And I…I was so happy when I saw you walking towards us."
Annabeth figured it would be okay for her to sneak a quick kiss to his cheek. "I knew you'd remember me," she said, grinning. "And you have to meet some people. Piper, Leo, they're really cool."
The small girl with cocoa colored skin popped over and smiled at the two of them. "Hi!" she said. "I'm Hazel."
Annabeth grinned at her. "And speaking of meeting people," she stuck out her hand. "I'm Annabeth. Nice to meet you."
Her grip was strong for such a small girl, but Annabeth figured that, if she had to deal with Percy all this time, the girl's got to have some guts.
"This is Frank," said Hazel, dragging him by the hand in front of Annabeth.
"He's sort of my cousin thing," said Percy, eyebrows furrowing. "We're…Still not quite sure what's going on with that."
"Yeah," added Hazel, "and Percy's brother is my horse."
Annabeth stared at her confused for a few seconds.
"Enough with family ties and schmoozing," said the blonde haired boy, rolling his eyes. "Let's get our things in order. Reyna," he said, interrupting Chiron, "should we discuss matters further in a more," he paused, looking around. Annabeth raised her eyebrows, daring him to say something to her. "A more private arena?"
Reyna nodded. "Let's go, shall we?"
Chiron gestured for Piper and Leo to join then, and Annabeth would have been lying if she said she hadn't noticed Hazel reeling when Leo walked over to them with that goofy grin on his face.
The day went on and the camps discussed matters together. The problem for Annabeth, though, was dealing with the fact that Percy was right there, giving her these searing gazes all the time, and neither of them could find the time to really do anything about it. In fact, Annabeth found herself gripping the table tightly whenever she'd hear Percy sitting up in front of everyone as a praetor, speaking with so much control over people. That was when she realized she kind of had a thing for words. Not just any words – his words. Maybe not even words – maybe his mouth. His mouth that did such wonderful things and could make her heart melt with one sentence or set her skin on fire with one skilled brush of his lips.
She needed to cool down. She was in public. Jumping Percy was probably a hideous idea in front of all these people she just met. She was Annabeth Chase, for Athena's sake, she had more sense than to let some stupid boy distract her.
Okay, so it was Percy, and okay, so Piper did basically insinuate that the two of them had more than teenagers usually did, but still. She couldn't focus on anything except for his lips or his eyes or – right is someone talking to her? She should probably answer.
Every time their eyes met throughout all the discussions, she'd lose her train of thought, and it got even worse when he'd swallow visibly, a tell tale sign that he was losing his resolve. Then she'd see him cross his legs or clench his hands together. Of course, she intentionally sometimes would bite her lip a little on purpose to get him a little more hot and bothered. But she couldn't be blamed. She'd missed him and he'd missed her. They had eight months to make up for.
Every moment they had she would press a light kiss to his hand, cheek, lips, or he would press one to hers. They didn't get much time during the day, though.
Annabeth was about to explode. She needed to show some self control, damnit.
Granted, she figured, hours after the meetings finished when she and Percy planned to meet at midnight in what seemed to be a club house in a tree a good distance away from everyone else, Percy wasn't that great at self control either.
"Gods I love you," he whispered against the soft skin of her neck, "gods I missed you so much."
"Missed you too," she said as she gripped his arm, "so, so much." She sighed as he kissed across her collarbone. "Love you even though you disappeared."
He moved his mouth from her shoulder to her lips again, then took a deep breath as he pressed his forehead against hers. "I'm so glad you found me," he said in a choked voice.
Annabeth let out something that could have been a sob or a laugh, she couldn't tell which, and brushed away a tear that had tracked its way down Percy's smiling face. "You know I always will."
