All rights to Rick Riordan
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Never Leave Me Again
"Land ahoy!" called Leo from his place at the head of the boat.
Annabeth looked up and stopped playing with her beaded necklace. Her Empire State Building bead in particular. It had become a bad habit these last few months, and a person can only sharpen a dagger so many times. Carefully, Annabeth scanned the horizon. Nothing. She frowned, first at the horizon, then at Leo. Apparently, the Hephaestus kid felt her glare. He turned.
"Dead ahead, 12 'o clock, I promise, " Leo explained, pointing to where he estimated the Roman camp to be, "I think the mist's obscuring it, but it's there."
Annabeth gave a short nod in response and looked again, trying to see past any magical concealment. Still, nothin-there. She saw it. In the midst of the water, less than a mile ahead, stood two tall columns. They were here. After months of false information and traveling, they were here. They had found it. They had found Percy.
Annabeth budged Clarisse with her elbow and gave a jerk of her head towards the camp. Clarisse squinted for a second, then nodded.
"I see them, " she said, "four tall, white columns straight ahead."
Four? Annabeth checked again, and counted.
"Six, from what I can see, " she replied, guarding her eyes from the sun with her hand, "There're probably more...oh! They've surrounded the camp with them. They're look-out towers. See how far apart they are?"
Clarisse grunted in reply and flexed uneasily, glancing at the sails, "I hope those are enough."
Annabeth followed her gaze. Despite the cries for the sails to be painted in various colors and with an enormous amount of decoration, Annabeth had put her foot down. The sails would be white. White sails meant peace. It was bad enough they were sailing into enemy territory with a war-ship. Red sails meant war. Black sails meant death. Pink was just an abominable color altogether. Even Piper, now head of Aphrodite's cabin, agreed with her on that.
She just had to hope the sail color would be enough.
"Activity on land!" Jason called from his place in the Crow's Nest.
Annabeth whipped her head towards the Roman camp. The top of the front pillar had been lit with fire, and the surounding pillars were following suit. Fire was a way of communication. That could only mean one thing...
"Signal fires!" yelled Piper, just as Annabeth had come to the same conclusion. The Native-American girl grabbed a rope and slid down it from the top of the Crow's Nest, "They think they're under attack!"
In seconds, the inhabitants of the boat, that had previously been lazing about, were active. Swords were brought out, helmets were put on, and the Hephistis kids were readying the massive amounts of fire power that they had readied the ship with. Annabeth realized what the scene must look like from on land.
"No!" she cried, "No! Stop it! Drop your weapons! They'll really think that they're under attack! Knock it off right-"
Thud. An arrow sunk into the spot where Annabeth had been standing seconds before. Only years of training and her inherited battle insticts had saved her.
"Too late," she murmured disgustedly, securing her helmet as she ran, "Leo! Leo! I need a megaphone right now!"
"Uhh," Leo mumbled distractedly, fumbling around in his tool belt with one hand and trying to steer the ship with the other. Finally, Leo's hand stilled, and he looked at Annabeth, "Here you go."
Annabeth caught the tossed item and was turning around as she heard Leo exclaim, "Woah!" Then the boat lurched to the right, and Annabeth spotted what looked like a flaming tree splash into the water.
"You nature killers! I'll get you for this! This means war!"
Apparently Grover had seen the same thing.
"Grover! Shut up! This isn't the time!" she snapped as she raced past him to the head of the boat.
Seeing the megaphone in Annabeth's hand, Piper sprinted with her. The girl is brilliant. Quick-witted and brilliant, Annabeth thought, I can't believe she's not Athena's daughter. Reaching the front, Piper stood up on the edge of the boat and grabbed Festes' head for support.
"Here," Annabeth tossed Piper the megaphone and grabbed the edge of her waist-band, firmly anchoring her to the boat. Piper didn't need any instructions on what to do.
"We don't want to fight," Piper called, "We come in peace!"
Thud. Thud. Thud. Four arrows ricocheted off Festus' head. Annabeth yanked Piper down from the ledge, quick enough to save the girl from the arrow that was now zipping past their heads. Piper stared up at Annabeth with wide eyes from the floor of the boat where she had landed.
"Maybe, you should make yourself a little bit more of a target, " Annabeth drawled sarcastically, offering the girl a hand.
Piper took her hand and stood, dusting herself off as she stood. "Yeah, a little less of a target and a lot more charm," she replied, a steely glint in her eyes. Piper grabbed the megaphone and tried again, layering her voice thickly with power, "We come in peace! We don't want to hurt you!"
Thud. Thud. Thud. Crash. There was another flying tree.
"You don't want to hurt us either!" she roared, "Stop it! Put down your weapons!"
Annabeth unstrapped her dagger and was about to lay it on the ground when she realized what she was doing. She reattched her dagger and shook herself off. It seems that's what the Roman campers were doing as well. She could see them reloading their arrows. This isn't working, she thought angrily, new plan, new plan.
The boat lurched as Leo fought to avoid more large projectiles.
Romans, she thought, what do I know about Romans?
Crash! A large boulder nailed the side of the boat. Thanks to many calculations and preparations, the boulder didn't break through. Just made a large dent.
They were inspired by Greek architecture. They enhanced the swordwork. They're violent and vicious.
"Hey!" Leo yelled angrily, "Lay off the projectiles!"
Vicious...
..."This means war!" Grover yelled...
Warlike....
"Hephaestus kids! Ready the weaponry! Archers! Take your mark and aim to injure! Avoid casualties!" Annabeth yelled over the sounds of thudding and Piper's screaming, "They respect power! Find the leader, and capture him! It's the only way they'll talk!"
"Yes!" Clarisse whooped with a fist pump, "That's the kind of plan I'm talking about!"
Annabeth rolled her eyes. At least Clarisse was on her side. Immediately after Annabeth's orders, the Ares counciler was on the move. Canons were being loaded, warships were being prepared, and the archers were in their various locations throughout the boat. Annabeth grabbed the ladder to the Crow's Nest and started up. She needed to spot the leader. The problem was, she didn't even know what gender the leader was. Or what characteristics would mark the person as leader. Annabeth swung a leg over the wall of the Nest and looked for Jason. She needed intel.
Annabeth spotted him above, chaneling lightning through his lance.
"Jason!" she called, "We need to know what the leader would look like. What characteristics would the leader have? Who would have replaced you?"
Jason paused, and looked troubled. It was a good thing he was so high in the air, or he would have been shot down immediately. She knew it was hard for him to remeber things from his past, but they needed to know and they needed to know now.
"She's an archer," he said with a frown, pulling Anabeth out of her guilty state. "She has brown hair, and would have a tower sheild with a sun design. Reyna's bossy, so she'd be yelling orders."
Anabeth nodded slowly, calculatuing the odds, "Jason, you need to find her."
The boy looked startled and Annabeth pressed on before he could interupt, "She knows you. They all know you. If we can get you to land, to her, the fighting is likely to stop. They'll listen to you." Jason's face resembled a white sheet, but he nodded, understanding. Anabeth dug in her pocket for two flares and tossed them to Jason, "Here. The green flare says you found her and everythings fine. Red flare is a distress signal. We'll come get you."
Jason saluted her and took off towards the archer towers. The spiraling vortex of wind around him repelled all the arrows sent his way. Sure enough, the arrows seemed to be slowing down. Hopefully, some of the campers remembered the flying boy.
CRASH! The boat lurched sideways, and the Crow's Nest tipped precariously. Unsteady, Annabeth reached for something to steady herself with. All the ropes were securing the sails to the mast below her-there was nothing to hold onto. Screams echoed below. The boat was practically at a 45 degree angle in the air. As Annabeth started to crouch, by staying low she ensured that the wall around her would keep her in the nest. However, the back of her calves hit the wall of the nest, and Annabeth fell over.
"Annabeth!" Clarisse called from below.
Damn, Annabeth thought, grabbing for the sails. She just had to send the guy that could save her off into the battle feild. Yet, in the long run, she knew that it had been thre right choice. There was still a chance she could get out of it, even if she was doing flips and twirls she'd never thought about doing in mid-air.
A bit of cloth brushed across Annabeth's hand and she clutched at it. Her arm nearly ripped out of her socket, but her body's descent slowed. With her free hand, Annabeth unclipped her dagger and sunk it into the sail. She took a deep breath, Leo was going to kill her, and released her death grip on the sail, opting instead to hold the dagger with two hands.
Riiiiiiip. Anabeth sighed in relief as the pressure was let off her her shoulder, and she began her slow descent towards the deck of the ship which was almost level again. Hah, she though smugly, who needs the flying son of Zues when you have your wits and luck? Annabeth decided to ignore the thunder that crashed ominously overhead.
"Incoming!" Leo yelled suddenly, jerking Annabeth out of her internal celebration.
It seemed like Leo had lost control of the boat, and had crashed into one of the watch towers. She watched in horror as campers desperately jumped off the doomed tower. Thankfully, or not, all of them landed on the boat.
Again, the boat lurched from its latest assault, and the boat was spinning off to the right in a hurry. Somewhere in the madness, Annabeth's dagger had come out of the sail, and again Annabeth was falling-right out of the boat.
When she hit the sand Annabeth instinctively rolled to avoid snapping her legs. She hissed in pain as she rolled across what felt like a rock. Sharp and pointy, the thing had decided to rip right through her shirt and what felt like the better part of her back.
As Annabeth's roll came to a stop she stoood up and looked around. Everyone else was still aboard the ship, and here she was, alone. Without her dagger-it seems that it had fallen sometime in her fall. On enemy territory.
Well, damn.
She was alone on enemy territory in the middle of the battle. At least, for the moment, she had gone unobserved. That didn't change the fact that Annabeth needed her dagger. As in, now. The rock, she thought, as she headed off towards the devillish thing. She had probably let go of her dagger when she hit the rock...
That settled, Annabeth headed off. Sure enough, there it was. Partly sunken into the sand on the left side of the rock that was coated with a smear of blood. Annabeth winced and decided not to look at her back just yet.
Annabeth stooped and snatched her dagger out of the sand, never halting in her stride. She was on enemy territory. It would probably be in her best interest to find Reyna and end this battle, and Reyna would be in one of the towers (hopefully not the tower that had spilled its inhabitants onto Leo's boat). So, that's where she would go. The towers. It didn't really matter which one she picked, all the towers should be connected somehow; both underground tunnels and aboveground bridges were options.
As Annabeth stepped onto the grass, all of her battle senses kicked in. She was 20 feet away from the towers. Surely there were foot soldiers or other sentries about. She needed to be careful. A though pushed itself into her mind, and, suddenly, Annabeth smacked her face. Duh. The Yankees cap.
Annabeth dragged said cap from her back pocket and placed it securely on her head, loving the familiar sense of safety that washed over her. It was always a confidence booster when you knew no one could see you approaching. Especially with archer towers scattered about.
Ten feet away from the base of a tower, Annabeth spotted a bronze helmet topped with purple feathers. The strategist snuck closer for a better look. There was only the boy, and he looked to be around 13. She was about to eliminate the boy as a threat when she noticed him handling a mace with ease. The boy had been trained, and thus he needed to be taken out.
Annabeth glanced around to make sure the boy was truly alone and crept stealthily towards him. Just because he couldn't see didn't mean he couldn't hear her. She was a step away when the boy spun around,sensing her, and looking for the source of his unease. Annabeth lashed out, smacking him hard in the temple with the handle of her dagger. The boy's eyes rolled back into his head and he sank to the ground, but his mace continued to spin with the force of his turn. It grazed Annabeth's back before falling to the ground with its owner.
Annabeth hissed and placed her hand on the wall to steady herself. Tentatively, she wiped a hand across the small of her back, ignoring the sting as she did so. She pulled her hand away and examined it-it was covered in blood.
Damn, she thought for the third time in a short time.
Annabeth sighed, but quickly and effectively cut away the Roman boy's shirt. Half of it she used to wipe blood off her back, and the other half she used as a means to bind the boys' feet and hands together. She didn't hit him that hard. He would probably come to in ten minutes.
That done, Annabeth prepared to walk into the door of the tower that the boy was guarding. The hunt for Reyna was hadn't seen Jason flitting about lately, so chances were that Reyna was not in the immediate towers, but if she went the opposite way of Jason, they could half the time of finding the Roman leader. Annabeth looked up as she walked. No Jason in sight. There really wasn't any way to tell which way he'd gone. She would have to pick a direction and hope Jason went the other way. Annabeth sighed.
Left. She would go left.
That decided Annabeth settled her cap securely on her head, and opened the door to the tower.
Inside of the tower was fairly dark, lit only by what looked like large platters that held fire every-she calculated- 30 steps or so. Quite a tall tower. Annabeth placed her hand on the wall of the tower and was greeted with a slimy substance on her fingers. Quietly she withdrew her hand, refusing to scream like some Daughter of Aphrodite, and examined it. Without a light source it was hard to determine the specimen now coating her fingers, but there were other senses she could use. Annabeth quickly sniffed her fingers.
Mold, she thought first, but with a second sniff, No. Algae. Maybe green algae? But that means that this tower is often damp...it's far enough from the sea to keep dry, I doubt there's been a storm that could touch here if the Romans' protections are anything like ours...
Annabeth touched the wall again, avoiding the algae patch this time. The stones of the wall were cold. Almost ice-cold, and slightly damp, like the outside of a frozen water jug. She nodded, confirming her last suspicion, That leaves a water supply. Interesting. I wonder if they have an aqueduct running through the towers...
With that information stored, maybe she could flood the towers and flush Reyna out, Annabeth wiped her hand on the side of her shorts and moved on. Tunnels would start on the ground level. She would look here first. Really, it was the only place to go. If there were bridges connecting the towers she would have seen them. There must be tunnels.
Five minutes later, Annabeth was still searching. She had been lucky enough to locate a stairwell leading underground, but so far, that's all it did. She'd searched the floor the staircase had lead to, but all she found was what seemed like a weapons room. Annabeth had even tried moving all the weapons in case of finding a secret entrance, unlikely, but possible, to no avail.
It was time to move on. Thankfully, due to her previous searches, she had locates yet another descending staircase. It was here that Annabeth paused, listening. There was a sound coming from below, like an engine running, or Mrs. O'Leary purring, or..
She smiled, pinpointing the sound.
Running water.
Annabeth paused and removed her cap to wipe a bleeding wound on her hairline she had recieved sometime previously. It was starting to drip into her eyes and impair her vision. Although her Yankees cap did wonders for making sure the enemy couldn't see her, it didn't do much good if she couldn't see them. Her vision in no immediate danger, Annabeth rearranged her hair so it stayed out of her cut and was a about to put her cap back on and head down when she was suprised. A wave of water blasted her back up the last two steps, all the way up the first flight of descending stairs, and out the tower door.
Annabeth crouched on the grass hacking up water, and wracking her brain for a reason she was expelled so forcefully from the underground level of the tower. Busted pipe, defense mechanism...nothing checked out. Left with only one solution, she looked up at the tower enterance.
Percy.
There he stood, the boy she'd been searching for for MONTHS and her just...stood there. Glaring at her, a wave of water hovering onimously behind him. Fine. If he wasn't going to come to her, she wouldn't go to him. Annabeth crossed her arms and gave him her patented glare.
"It only took you 3 months to show up, Percius," she growled from her seat in the grass.
Percy looked confused for a second, and then did something that startled her. He let the water drop behing him and drew Riptide. Annabeth raised one eyebrow and looked at him daringly. He wasn't going to...she froze when her eyes met his sea-green ones. He wasn't kidding. This was for real. Percy was going to attack her.
Annabeth had just scrambled to her feet and launched herself sideways when Percy attacked. This time though, she wasn't fast enough. Percy managed to nick her cheek. Still though, that was a much better price than whatever he had been aiming at beforehand.
Hurriedly, Annabeth drew her dagger in time to parry his next onslaught. She caught Riptide's blade on the flat of her own blade and supported the weight of the blow by holding her palm against the back of her blade. Annabeth put all her weight into holding off his weapon, but she was soon buckling under his strength. All that time he spent training had really payed off.
All that time she spent training with him. She felt her eyes start to water.
"Percy!" she exclaimed, absorbing his every feature and trying to make him look at her in return,"please! Percy, stop!"
Percy faltered and Annabeth took her chance to back up. She kept her dagger raised and fought to keep the tears out of her eyes. Percy didn't remember her. They had spent five years together, fighting monsters and saving the world, and he didn't remember a bit of it.
Percy stood where she had left him, dazed, Riptide's tip now pressed into the dirt. Annabeth watched him shake his head, physically removing the conflicts in his mind, and advance towards her again.
"How. Do. You. Know. My. Name?" he ground out, advancing a step further with every word.
"We met in Camp Halfblood. You're the Son of Posieden, I'm the Daughter of Athena. Our first year, we got sent on a mission to retrieve the masterbolt, you saved your mom!" she blurted out as quickly as possible.
Percy's glare increased and he continued forward with a side-swipe. Annabeth ducked and rolled behind him through his legs, swiping at his knee with her dagger as she went. He always did have too broad of a stance.
Annabeth used her momentum to help push herself up off her hands and spring onto her feet. She spun around to face Percy who was still in the process of turning around. Never one for missing a cue, Annabeth dropped down to a crouch and swept Percy's legs our from under him. As he landed, Percy's grip on Riptide loosened, and Annabeth quickly kicked it away. After being with Percy for years, she knew it would return to him eventually, but this would buy her some time.
Annabeth launched herself ontop of Percy. She slammed her dagger into the ground by his shoulder, managing to cut his shirt, but not his skin (thanks to the whole dip-in-the-Styx thing), and trapped his arms behind his head. At any other time, this position would have made her blush madly and Percy definitely would have teased her. Now, Percy didn't even know who she was, much less tease her for straddling him.
"I know that Riptide will eventually return," Annabeth began again, her face only inches from his, "I know that you must have showed up here around three months ago without a single clue why or who you were. I know what each of these beads mean because you get them at the end of every year at Camp Halfblood. With your friends. With me."
Percy had stopped struggling when Annabeth mentioned his arrival at the Roman camp. Now he stared at her curiously, not sure who she was, but not fighting any longer. In the distance, a green flare went off. Annabeth took time to register it, then looked down at Percy and kept talking.
"The first monster you ever fought was a Minotaur. You have a cyclops brother named Tyson, and a pet hellhound named Mrs. O'Leary. We both held up the sky, and that's why we have matching grey streaks in our hair." Annabeth took a chance and let go of his arms with one hand to brush his grey streak with her fingers.
When she stopped, she looked down at Percy who still looked troubled. Annabeth took a breath to start speaking again, but found her throat was so tight from holding back tears that she couldn't.
With a sigh that resembled a heartbroken sob, Annabeth removed her other hand from Percy's arms, resituated herself so that she was no longer staddling her boyfriend, and pulled her dagger from the dirt. She then proceeded to busy herself with placing it back in her holster, not making eye contact, mostly so he wouldn't see the tears that were threatening to escape from her eyes.
Somewhere in the process of Annabeth securing the buckle on her holster, Percy whispered something that made her stop in her tracks. Barely believing her ears, she looked up, and met Percy's eyes. He was looking at her, with an expression akin to one trying to fit the final puzzle piece back in place.
"What did you call me?" Annabeth whispered, terrified and hopeful to hear the answer at the same time.
"Wisegirl?" Percy said. This time louder.
Annabeth clapped her hands to her mouth and nodded tearfully. Almost immediately she was wrapped in the tightest bear hug she could have ever imagined.
Annabeth never resisted for a second, instead collapsing onto his chest and gripping his T-shirt as though she would never let go. The tears she had been struggling to hold back burst forth now, and cascaded down her cheeks. Annabeth was suprised to feel Percy's tears against her scalp, but she just sniffled and pressed even closer to her long-lost best friend.
"You were going to join the Hunters, and I was so glad when you didn't," Percy said suddenly. Annabeth started against his chest, and looked up at Percy. Tears were freely falling down his face, but he continued to talk, "You kissed me in the Labrynth, but I was too suprised to kiss you back. We had to get Rachel's help and you were extremely jealous."
Annabeth punched him lightly in the chest and fake growled at him, with playfully narrowed eyes. Percy smiled and kissed her on the forehead before continuing, "You knew where my weak spot was, and you saved my life by taking the knife meant to kill me. Together we took on Kronos who was in Luke's body. You baked me a cake covered in blue frosting, and then we kissed. On my 16th birthday."
Annabeth smiled up at him, the tears that she couldn't seem to stop still rolling down her face. She wasn't worried though, Percy had yet to stop his tears either.
Percy brushed a hand through her hair gently, taking notice of the cut on her cheek and forehead. In a scene from every cliche romance novel, Percy pulled Annabeth's head up with a kind hand under her chin. She took the moment to look at the green eyes she had missed and found herself glancing and the lips she hadn't kissed.
"Annabeth Chase, I love you," he said before leaning down to kiss her sweetly.
When the kiss ended, Annabeth placed one last kiss on the tip of his nose before settling back in his arms.
"Love you too, Seaweed Brain."
Laying back against his chest, Annabeth felt his chest rumble with laughter and smiled. She took in his smell, how he always smelled, like the ocean. She took in how he felt against her. Well muscled from all their training. Warm and sweaty from their fight. She took in all the emotions she felt being in his arms again. Secure, safe, and home. Annabeth was home, and if she had anything to say about it, she was never going to leave again. But as we say somethings don't stay just the way you are.
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REVIEW!
A/N: Give me one week and I will post the next chapter, I can't post because of my 'always full of tons of assignments' Thank you!. Some request please for the next chapter… tnx!