Disclaimer: I don't own Percy or Annabeth.
As all fairytales begin, this one begins the same:
Once upon a time, in a castle faraway, there lived a beautiful princess.
She was arranged to marry the prince from a nearby kingdom. He was very handsome with blonde hair and blue eyes, and she liked him. Just not enough.
So on the day of her wedding, she ran away. She travelled miles away to the ocean, as she'd never been before, and had heard stories of princesses on islands.
She didn't know how to swim, but she dove straight into the water, before gasping; startled at how cold it was. She couldn't breathe properly, and the salt water was burning her eyes.
She flailed her arms and legs helplessly, it was like the water was dragging her down. She screamed, multiple times. But then her voice began to ache, her legs, her arms and suddenly she felt exhausted and her world faded to black.
She awoke later in an unfamiliar blue room, which wasn't hers. She sat up to admire the strange room and on the opposite wall, was a window.
The view outside was all water, she couldn't see the top nor the bottom, it was just water. There were houses just there, floating in the water and strange people with shimmering fish tails instead of legs.
She was shocked at the very sight, and passed out, once again.
The next time she awoke, a person was perched on the window sill, watching her intently.
The princess was taken aback by the person's tail, which was a beautiful shade of green.
The merman, as he called himself, went by the name, Percy. Percy had dark hair and oh, his eyes; they were the same beautiful shade as his tail.
She realised she had been staring and blushed before introducing herself as Annabeth and asking where in the King's name was she.
Percy said she was in his father's underwater kingdom and she almost drowned and he had rescued her.
Annabeth thanked him and asked if he could take her back to land.
Percy panicked. He didn't want her to leave so soon. Humans were a symbol of luck and he hadn't been with a human in years. He told her she needed to rest, maybe in a week or so.
She agreed and they settled on next week.
But the next week, she didn't remember and he definitely didn't remind her.
He enjoyed her company, and he was almost certain she enjoyed his.
They exchanged life stories and he learnt that she was sixteen years old and her mother passed away when she was four and that her father was king and that she ran away from her own wedding.
She found that he was one hundred and eighteen years old and that his father ruled the underwater kingdom and his mother was the closet thing he had to family as his father was so busy.
More days passed and soon days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months.
Finally, Annabeth had been there for almost a year.
Percy began feeling different towards Annabeth, and he was certain it was this "love" which she often talked of.
Merpeople didn't feel love, they didn't really feel anything. But with Annabeth, Percy felt a lot of things.
He was hot, and he was cold; he was flying, and then he was falling.
On one particular day, Percy decided to tell Annabeth how he felt and he had made her a necklace with a delicate heart-shaped locket.
This day, Annabeth was very quiet, and he wondered if maybe he should tell her tomorrow instead, when she was in a better mood.
He caught her gazing out the window, and smiled thinking maybe she needed some quiet time to herself.
He was about to leave when she opened her mouth and said the three words that he had dreaded. Take. Me. Home.
Oh. The necklace felt heavy all of a sudden in the palm of his hand and his smile was long gone.
Why would she want to go back to a place where she would have to marry a man she did not love? He thought, bitterly. She'd be better off here.
But he replied with a sure. Yes. Whenever you want. I'm all ready. Where to?
Alas, he wasn't all ready. Not at all. He wanted her to stay more than anything.
Later that day though, he took her to shore. He wanted to get it over with. He didn't want some terribly long goodbye.
So there was just an okay. Well. See you soon. Bye.
Then he dived back into the water before she had a chance to even open her mouth.
As she walked away, she kept asking herself over and over again, why did she have to be so stupid.
She didn't return to the castle; it was no longer her home. So she decided to stay on the beach.
About two days later, a beautiful locket washed ashore. Inside was a small piece of paper.
The words were hard to make out, partly because the writing wasn't very clear and partly because she hadn't read in a year or so.
Annabeth thought it said: I could have loved you. -P
But she wasn't certain.
She then took the necklace and moved to a nearby village. She found work and settled down.
She did meet several men, but she could never love any of them.
Nobody ever discovered her true identity and she didn't tell anybody. About that or Percy. Although he was all she thought about.
This fairytale ends not like most. There is no "happily ever after". This story ends like this:
She died several years later, she had drowned in the ocean, clutching a necklace, waiting, hoping, to be reunited with him. Because in those last moments of her life, it was like she could see his tail flitting through the water with her.
The end.
