AUTHOR'S NOTE: OOC, Percabeth, Soulmate AU
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson, and never will
We live in a world where we have soulmates. There is no choice as to who your soulmate is. There aren't any clues as to who your soulmate is, well, except for one thing; you have their first name. When a person is born they have their soulmate's name on their mind almost instantly, and the ability to tell if their soulmate is close by.
I once met my soulmate. But I blew it. I didn't tell anyone that I had met him. I didn't quite get how soulmates worked at that point, even though I had had the whole 'forever bonded' talk at least a jillion times by that point. It was a chance meeting. We had just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Probably fate working it's magic.
His name is Perseus, but he prefers to be called Percy. That is all I know. I can't remember anything about him other than his name, and the fact that he had gorgeous, wavy brown hair. oh!, and he has the most gorgeous sea-green eyes. I can't remember all that much because I was only ten at the time that we met, and he was twelve.
I met him while I was on a trip with my family. We had chosen to stay at this farmhouse, almost in the middle of nowhere, but not quite. The farm was set on a big hill, with horses, cows, chickens and geese in paddocks and just wandering around. There were hundreds of huge, green trees surrounding the farm on all sides. That was where I first saw him. I could've sworn that my heart stopped beating for a second, but then it came hammering at my chest, almost as if it were trying to break free of me, and get to him. I suppose that was the point I realised that we had some sort of chemistry going on between us.
Unfortunately, our trip only lasted for a few days. I barely had any time to get to know him, and him me. I can remember chasing chickens with him, and the joy of finally catching a chicken, and getting to hold it. I can remember how we were caught mucking around in the surrounding paddocks, teasing the horses. And how I was scolded so harshly because of it. From that point onwards, I was banned from leaving the farm without adult supervision.
The last day we were at the farm, I learnt of his past. His parents had died when he was young, and because of that he was forever being moved from house to house, from family to family, having absolutely no choice as to what country, state, or city he lived in. I had felt so sorry for him at that point, not realising that it meant that I would likely never see him again, or that his life of always moving around would make it near impossible for me to track him down. Why couldn't ten year old me realise it at that time, and tell someone that I had met my soul-bonded, and that we shouldn't be separated. Why?!
9 years later
I wake with my hair covering my face, an my pet cat, onyx, sitting at my feet. Ugh. I forgot to put my hair in a ponytail before going to sleep. Again. "Annabeth! Breakfast!", my best friend, and roommate, Talia, shouts. As I moan, and attempt to get up I remember that today I start a new year at college. 'Why me?', I think to myself, rolling slowly out of bed. As I head out of my room I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I still have the exact same skinny, tanned body, and the same long, glossy hair that has girls up to their necks in envy. I sigh. As smart as I might be, and as successful as my modelling career might be, there is still a part of me missing. I guess you could put it as if a part of my soul was missing.
"Annabeth! I swear if you aren't in this kitchen within the next five minutes, I will drink this delicious mango smoothie that I made for you, and leave you with a growling stomach until lunch!"
I sigh again. She always knows exactly what will get me moving in the morning, and she knows that if there is one thing that I have a soft spot for, it's one of her homemade mango smoothies.
As I walk into the kitchen the first thing that I notice is the fact, that, though yesterday Talia's hair was strawberry blond with light pink highlights, today her hair is a magnificent shade of crimson. "Talia!", I gasp,"what the actual hell did you do to your hair!"
Talia plays with a strand of her hair and looks at me with sad eyes,"I thought you would like it", she says, instantly making me feel bad. I look down at my feet, and then something catches my eye. She had on one of the shortest skirts I had ever seen! Looking her up and down I realised that she was wearing a black skirt that barely classified as a skirt, a skin-tight black top, and a super- cute pair of boots. I fixed her a glare that would have scared the living daylights out of anyone but her and said, in as icy a tone as I could make, "what, exactly, are you wearing?"
She gulps. I am rarely this disappointed in her, and she knows it. "I was just playing around", she whispers in meek voice, clearly trying to guilt trip me. Giving in, I pull her into a hug and tell her "I don't care if your soulmate is dead, but I know you do. I know how it feels to not know where or what your soulmate is doing right now, but what I know is that you can't just go giving yourself away to any guy who will take you". By this point both of us are in tears, but more her than me. Brushing strands of crimson hair from her face I break our hug. I can tell that this will be the last time she pulls a stunt like this just by looking at her face.
" Sorry for starting both our days so badly", she says. I roll my eyes. Classic Talia. Getting over things almost as quickly as they started. She passes me my smoothie and start to gulp it down, barely pausing for breath, but then see the time. I swear. How can I be late already? The year hasn't even started! I snatch my bag from nearby chair, grab my purse, phone, text books and other necessities a dash out the door. As I am running down the street, aiming to not miss the next bus, I can hear Talia's laughter, bouncing off the buildings. Bitch. She must've known the time the whole time I was sympathising for her. She is so dead when I get home.
By the time I finally arrived at class, I was a full eight minutes late. As I dashed to an open seat, I caught sight of Drew. She waved me over to her, so I walked over. "Hey Drew, whats up?", I ask her, wondering why there wasn't a teacher in the room yet. Drew replies to this with her favourite line since we first started high school. "Guess what!", she gushes, "we're apparently getting a new addition to our class and he is super cute!".I sigh inwardly. Of course this is why she called me over. Why else would the queen of gossip want me? She starts to apply a lipgloss of the most hideous shade. Ugh.
As I turn my back to go back to my seat, I hear footsteps walking down the hall. Suddenly the lecture room is a flurry of students grabbing bags and running back to their seats. Then my phone chimes. Sounds like I've received a text. As I pull my phone out of my bag, the newbie walks in. The room instantly gets quiet, but I don't really notice because I am too busy gaping at the message on my phone. Apparently, I have just been accepted into a major modelling competition, and I am already the crowd favourite. I literally jump out of my seat and whoop.
Instantly I turn a bright red. Whoops. My bad. I look at the teacher and then notice the new boy next to him. The new kid isn't just anyone, I realise with a shock. Now kid is none other than my soul bonded. "Percy!", I gasp, as our eyes connect.
"Annabeth", he replies with a slight nod of his head. He just looks at me. And I look right back at him. By now the class is buzzing with the starts of all kinds of rumours. I apologise to the teacher and quickly sit back down. I can feel the eyes of most everyone in the class. My entire face burns with embarrassment. How on earth am I going to make it through the next hour or so of class?
As the lecture ends, everyone crowds around Percy. I take this a chance to escape the room. I really don't want to run into him, after all these years of trying to forget him, of trying to pretend that he was gone, that there was no chance of ever seeing him again. I sigh inwardly again, clearly today just isn't my kind of day. As I walk down the corridor leading to my escape, I hear my name being called loudly. I don't even need to turn around to know that it is none other than my soulmate. I pull a face and slowly turn around.
"Annabeth!", he cries, with a huge grin covering his face, "I just knew that it had to be you!". I shoot him a confused face, wondering what on earth he was talking about. "It was you, wasn't it, on the front page of that really popular fashion magazine!?" I was still slightly confused, but nodded slightly, remembering a photo shoot that I did a couple of weeks ago. Percy honestly looked like he was about to melt out of excitement, so I grabbed his hand and began to lead him to of the building, and towards where the meeting I had planned to have with my manager today was being held. As the hall goes silent, I realise that I have just fed the rumour mill more gossip. Oh well, if I'm going to go through hell, I might as well visit all the sights.
The minute we step off campus, we are surrounded by hundreds of people. I give Percy a confused look, which he returns with an apologetic one. That is when I realise that I had seen him after we left each other when we were young, just not in person. He was the lead guitarist of the latest band, 'Half-Blood'. Glaring at him for not having disguised himself and making himself so easy to recognise, I drag him down the street. His crazy fans decide to follow us, and all I can think about is how I want to be talking with my soul-bonded, but can't, because I don't want either of us revealing personal facts to people who would gladly sell them to the highest bidder.
As we reach my manager's building, the crowd kind of disperses, probably realising that this was a building with extremely good security. As I pass the security guard I say to him, "keep all of these people out. I have to have a very important meeting with my manager, and cannot afford to be distracted". The guard nods his head, and immediately blocks the door to stop the people from getting in.
"Come on", I say to Percy, realising that I was currently a full three minutes late for my meeting. Fashionably late, I think to myself. As I pull him along the hall, we receive a few surprised glances, and a few people shoot Perce sympathetic glances, probably buying into the rumours about how picky and how scary I can be. For probably the hundredth time today I sigh. There is no way that this much sighing is good for my complexion.
Walking into the meeting room I am greeted with the words, "thank you for finally gracing us with your presence", which were probably meant to embarrass me or throw me, but Chiron, my manager, knows better than to think that it will cut deep. "Chiron", I say, with a slight tilt of my head. "Oh, you brought a boy with you", he states, knowing that I rarely socialise with anyone, let alone with people outside of my own gender. "Chiron, this is my soulmate, Perseus",
I say, knowing that Chiron had probably already reached that conclusion, but not not really caring.
Percy steps forward, reaching out for a handshake, but ends up getting pulled into a hug by Chiron. I can tell at once that Chiron, probably feeling like a proud parent, is ecstatic to realise that I have finally tracked down my soulmate after so many years. "Michael!", he calls out to his soulmate.
"She has finally found him!". I roll my eyes, not wanting to pop Chiron's little bubble of parental pride. Then Michael walks in, surrounded by his forever boring aura, the polar opposite of Chiron. I can tell at once that Michael is extremely happy for me, because his eyes are sparkling in such way that you can't help but want to smile.
Michael walks up to Chiron, and gives him quick kiss. He then turns to me and says, "Annabeth, darling, I am so happy for you". I feel a flush of red creep up my neck. Michael rarely says kind or nice things. Chiron lightly slaps Michael's arm and says, "shall we commence our meeting about your promising modelling career?" I nod my head, and we sit and talk about my career for the next hour.
"Bye Annabeth!", Chiron yells as I walk out of the building, arm linked through Percy's, towards a waiting limo. Poor Perce, he looks kind of shaken, but I guess he isn't used to having such an out there manager, and his silent soulmate, in the same room as him. Percy turns to me and I tilt my head, interested in what he is about to say. "Annabeth", he began,"I think that I want us to be together. Forever. No matter how weird your management team is". I blink quickly, shocked by his sudden statement, and then I start to cry. I guess it was all the years of wanting something so badly coming crashing down upon me, all at once.
Percy crushes me in a hug, probably unable to think of anything else to do. I let him hold me, not wanting it to end. By this point I am a sobbing mess, and not caring who sees me. I break our hug, and look him in the eyes. "I want us to be together, forever, too".