So, this was supposed to be out by a few days ago but, well as you know something occurred. Thanks for the support anyway for my previous stories. Enjoy?
"Don't die, Annabeth." He holds her limp body in his arms, the wound in her side bleeding till it paints his hands, his clothes and his face with her blood. "Please, don't die."
She weakly shakes her head at him, her lids further drooping.
"You have to fight for me, Percy. Fight for me."
His tears mixes with her blood, as he hugs her close to his heart.
"Take the Isles of the Blest, Annabeth. I'm going to find you."
She nods and pushes her lids open, her gray eyes staring at him. The sparkle in her eyes are gone, replaced by a dull and almost colorless shade.
"Three lives. That shouldn't be too long," she decides.
"Annabeth, I-"
"Wait for me, Percy. Wait for me."
...
The war is over.
They managed to win, though their loss almost equals the joy brought by the success.
Annabeth dies. Percy takes the immortality offerred by the gods.
Almost everyone in the camp cries.
Almost. Except Percy.
(I want to be strong for her. And Annabeth despises crying.)
...
He goes alone to the lake in Camp Half-Blood on her birthday.
He concentrates on making a replica of her using his water powers.
But the hair isn't blonde. The skin isn't tanned.
And the eyes aren't gray, they are mere colorless bubbles of water reflecting the anger and desperation in his eyes.
He destroys it right after.
That night, after so many months, he cries himself to sleep; each tear a memory of her that turns infinite the moment it mixes with the lake.
…
Most of the time, he wakes up in the middle of the night, his hand blindly searches for her hand by his side, her breath on his collarbone and her beating heart close to his own.
(And most of the time, there's no hand, no breath and no heart.)
...
The next day, he wears her Yankees Cap, turning him invisible to all.
He wishes it could also make him invisible to his feelings.
(It doesn't.)
...
He sees a flash of blonde curls on his right.
And his head snaps so quick it might have broken his neck if he's not immortal.
A girl is standing with same blonde curls, same tan but never her eyes.
He whisks away from the place completely.
…
The first time he sees her again (reincarnated), after a 100 years, she almost dies.
Percy spots her in the middle of the ocean, drowning. He swims towards her and places them in an air bubble. He uses the waves to push them back to the shore while he dries her clothes.
And all the while, he uses the moment to observe her: same bronze skin drenched in water splotches, same blonde curls sticking across her forehead and same steely gray eyes that stare back at him when she goes conscious.
She's the real Annabeth Chase.
"Hey," he opens up, once her eyes settle over him. "You're okay."
"I...I-I am alive," she decides, as she tries to sit herself up.
Percy lets out a smile at her. "Yeah. You're alive."
"You saved me. Thank you,...er, I think I didn't catch your name?" she asks.
"I never said it. It's Percy. Yours?"
"My name's Sofia. Thank you Percy for saving my life. Really," she utters. A thankful smile slips on her face.
"You're welcome. Uh-"
"Do you know where we are?" she cuts him off.
"Somewhere along the coast of an island-?" he replies. And though he's a god and once came from Poseidon, he never paid much attention to his locations.
"Gosh! I need to get home soon. Steve must be worrying about my whereabouts."
"Steve-?"
"Oh right. He's my fiancé."
"Oh."
And Percy doesn't care for the rest of the conversation because the one time he got to see Annabeth came the information that she's also about to get married. Fates sucks.
He also doesn't try to snatch her up or something like that because it's merely futile and Annabeth doesn't want that.
So, he takes her home (home not to his, but to someone else's) and completely excuses himself out of her life.
She needs peace, he thinks.
(Even though he feels every single thing but peace on his heart.)
...
He watches her from afar, each moment revealing her story.
He extracts and takes delight on her happiness, he feels twice the sorrow when she's sad and he tears, hurts and nearly kills himself when the wedding happens because he's the one supposed to be there. It's Percy place that Steve-guy took. Percy's supposed to be the one wearing the tux. Percy's supposed to be the one giving her the ring. Percy's supposed to be the one kissing her, holding her and protecting her.
But that moment never came.
And he wonders, so frequently wonders, why is a god like him feels so helpless with a mortal? He never desired anyone so badly aside from her. He never fell so hard for anyone aside from her. And he never waited, cried and died all the while for anyone aside from her. Yet, he'll still be waiting, crying and dying, repeating the process all over and over until he sees her again.
(Because that's love, Percy thinks. You'd just have to give and give and...)
…
The third and final chance he has with her happens with a goodluck prophecy from Aphrodite. She tells him the place and time where Annabeth is supposed to go (the goddess of love appeared before her and kind of blackmailed the poor blonde), and a final surprise according to her. And even though Aphrodite's the real reason why Percy and Annabeth's story became tragic (mind you, that's her job), she still has the sense to give them another chance.
So, Percy gives up his immortality and goes to the place where he's supposed to meet the reincarnated teenage Annabeth at an earlier time.
He can still fairly remember making a promise to wait for her.
And so he waits and waits-
"Thanks for waiting for me, Seaweed Brain."
Fin.