Author's note: This is my third fanfic (if you count one-shotty things fanfics I guess. I'm not good at long stories.) I'm really proud of it, and I hope you like it! I'm not really sure how half of the stuff in here really was, but if there's crucial information I screwed up, please review/PM me and tell me about it. I hate reading things with flawed facts in the story and assume other people do to! Anyways, this is about Percy and Annabeth's trials in the Underworld and how they reunite after figuring out their memories from their three lives. If you have any other people/pairings you might want, review and maybe I can do something for ya! :) Enjoy!
These particular souls were a force to be reckoned with.
The male soul had lived a spectacular life. In his first life, he had lived as the eternally-famous Heracles, who had lived as a hero who saved the world countless times. He was always in love with Princess Iole, which indirectly caused him to die. He had been offered Elysium, and the choice to be reborn. He chose rebirth.
In his second life, he had lived as a regular mortal. He had done nothing exceptional. He graduated law school and became a lawyer, found a girl he liked, married her, and had kids. He had done good deeds here and there, and when given large sums of money from successful cases, he donated it. He gave money to the homeless when he saw them. He had never felt completely content, though. He was again given the chance to live eternally in Elysium, or to be reborn. He chose rebirth again.
In his third life, he had been born as Percy Jackson. Not a spectacular name known throughout the earth, but if you were a half-blood, you knew his name. He faced countless problems, but always prevailed. After many wars, he was finally given the chance for his life to become normal. He married and had three kids with Annabeth Chase, someone he felt a deep connection with and loved with all his heart.
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The female soul had also lived a great life. In her first life, she was Princess Iole of Ochalia, and was put up for marriage by her father. Heracles had claimed her as a bride, but her father rejected him. She was forced to marry another man years later, but still thought about Heracles every day until her death. He was the big "what if" in her life. She had helped the countless heroes who she had met and did the good she could wherever she went. Iole's Underworld status: Elysium offered, rebirth accepted.
In her second life, she was a mortal who fell in love with a boy in the third grade. That boy never dated throughout their school years and they became great friends. They went to the same school in college and were friends throughout their whole life, and she never lost her fascination with him. She was a bridesmaid at his wedding—but he never had a chance to go to hers, because she never married. She lived the average life, and a few small deeds she did helped earn her the chance to live in Elysium in the afterlife. She could also be reborn, which she found fascinating. She chose to be reborn.
In her third life, she was reincarnated as Annabeth Chase, one of the heroes of Olympus in multiple wars. She wasn't very well known in the mortal world either, but she was Percy's right hand (wo)man and she had liked him for a long while. They went through their hardships, but eventually prevailed, and married and had three kids with him. She had felt a deep love for Percy- she just didn't understand how she could love somebody so much.
They both died within 3 months of the other in their third lives, and the male soul, the first to die, waited faithfully for the female, linked to the waiting room by an unseeable force. Once they had met each other again, not realizing how their souls were connected, they embarked on their final journey to the Underworld. They anticipated their trials would be back to back since they arrived together, and they were right. The male soul, since he died first, had his trial first.
"Next spirit, please step forward," the figure in long, black robes announced, looking for the next one in line. The male stepped forward. His panel of judges was Thomas Jefferson, Tyra Banks and Hades himself, who decided to judge in honor of the calling his soul felt to sign up for judge duty that morning.
"Please drink from the fountain of remembrance, and your memories will only return if you want them to—assuming you are a returning spirit, which my sensors indicate you are," the robed figure informs him. The spirit steps forward and grabs the chalice, dips it into the fountain, and sips it. He has a conflicted look on his face, and then decides to chug it. All at once, his memories wash over him. He remembers his first life—as Heracles, the famous hero, in love with Princess Iole, which lead him to death by a jealous wife. He remembers his second life—as Robert Jacobson, a wealthy lawyer with a pretty wife. He also remembers his third life more vividly—Percy Jackson, the hero of the 21st century, madly, madly in love with Annabeth Chase-Jackson, and who lived the best life. The spirit decided he had liked his third life the best, comparing them side to side right then.
"Do you remember?" Tyra asks softly. The spirit manages to nod, his form flickering slightly as he sifted through all of the memories in his head. Only his image kept reverting back to one look—tall, muscular, black hair, and sparkling green eyes.
"You just finished your third life, yes? Yes, you did. Who were you in your first life?" Hades asks loudly. The spirit clears his throat, settling back on the black-haired boy image, and says somewhat quietly, "Hercules, Heracles, however you want to say it." Under his breath, he mumbles, "So Annabeth was right; you really could have been Hercules in an earlier life."
"Hercules? As in, the ancient hero of Greece Hercules?" Thomas asked, voicing everyone's thoughts.
"I think so," the spirit said thoughtfully, settling on an image of a very tall, very muscular blond-haired, brown-eyed form.
Hades sighed. "He isn't lying, I assume. Cerberus hasn't eaten him yet. Who were you in your second life?" he asked, sounding bored.
"Robert Jacobson," the spirit says, its once solid form changing to a brown-haired middle aged man wearing a suit. Hades sighed again, wondering why his instincts told him there was a great spirit coming today; sure, Hercules was a great hero, but that didn't warrant him coming down here, he had already done his trial once, right? At the same time, Thomas spoke up.
"Yes, yes, I remember you. Good dude, got the chance to go to Elysium, got reborn. Who were you in your third life?" Thomas asked.
It was silent hall as the spirit sifted through his memories once again. Once he found the answer he was looking for, he spoke up.
"Percy Jackson," he said, his voice ringing out through the hall, his image once more solidifying back to the black-haired image. At this name, Hades straightened.
"Percy Jackson," Hades says, slowly saying the word, savoring the syllables as they came out of his mouth. "We meet again. It's been a while, demigod."
The spirit bows. "It's been a while, Lord Hades," he agrees.
Hades waves his hands at Tyra and Thomas, both about to speak. "I got this lil' dude, alright?" The two just nod.
Hades leans back in his chair, hands behind his head. "I think there is no doubt you achieve Elysium for your duties to Olympus, yes? Yes, glad you agree. Since you have completed three lifetimes and achieved Elysium in all three lives, I believe this qualifies you for the Isles of the Blest," Hades says. A large grin lights up the spirit's face. It is clear the grin was a familiar face, because it looked perfectly in place on the spirit's current form. "Just to be we sure, we still have to measure your heart, though," Hades adds.
"I'm sure a hero like you will be perfectly fine!" Tyra chirps.
The robed figure from before drags out a large scale with a feather on one end. A heart labeled '12869560' was in the figure's hand.
"Your time of judgment has come, hero. Face your fate." He places the heart in the spirit's hand. The spirit places the heart at the other end of the scale, subconsciously crossing his fingers as he does so. After he releases his grip on the heart, the heart end soars above the other side of the scale, dips down near the ground again, and eventually settles about 4 ½ inches above where the feather side is. The panel erupts in cheers from Tyra and Thomas. The robed figure smiles and puts the heart in a plastic baggie, places it upon a shelf, and wheels the scale back into a storage room. Hades smiles as he says, "You have been granted the privilege of eternally living in the Isles of the Blest. Go now, spirit, and forever live in peace." However, the spirit lingers for a few moments longer.
"Um, Lord Hades?" he asks, slightly unsure.
"What is it?" Hades asks.
"May I stay to observe the next trial?" the spirit asks.
Hades sighs again. "I suppose so." Hades snaps his fingers and a chair appears in a corner of a room. The spirit smiles contentedly and goes to sit in the corner, his form once again solidifying into the green-eyed boy.
"Next spirit, please step forward," the figure in black called again. The female spirit steps forward this time. The same panel of judges awaits this spirit, but she has an audience with a boy this time. She doesn't remember much from her mortal life, but he seems familiar. She smiles at him. He smiles back, a very, very oddly familiar grin, like a boy about to get in trouble for making sarcastic remarks to the teacher.
"Please drink from the fountain of remembrance. It seems you are a returning spirit from all the wear on your soul, yes?" The robed figure bites back a smile and instead hands the spirit the chalice, which she dips into the fountain and takes small sips of the wine, not particularly enjoying the taste but the warmth it gives her throughout her entire being. After she finishes the cup and sets it on the table next to the small, gurgling fountain, she gasps as her memories come flooding back, hitting her like a ton of bricks.
It remembers its first life—Princess Iole, who lived a life most would kill for, but was unhappy, because she fell in love with Hercules, and later was forced to marry someone she hated. It remembers its second life—Andrea Crawford, who too spent her life unhappy because of love and a crush on a close friend since childhood. It remembers its third life, too—One spent as Annabeth Chase, later known as Annabeth Chase-Jackson, who fell in love with her best friend at an early age and lived to be a hero, marrying that best friend in the end. His name rings through her head, the only consistent thing in all her memories—Percy Jackson.
Thomas studies her face. "You do remember your memories, correct? Your form keeps changing, so I would judge you just finished your third life. You had
blonde hair in every form, though—do you think-" Tyra cut him off with an exasperated sigh. "You're rambling again, Tom," she says, a faint sign of boredom creeping into her voice.
"Yes, okay, all formalities aside, what do you remember about your first life?" Hades asks, not caring what happened with the other two afterlife judges.
The spirit took a deep breath. "Well, I was Princess Iole of Ochalia, who, as most know, was a legend to people. She was a common love interest of Hercules-" out of the corner of her vision, the spirit saw the boy in the chair's form flicker slightly, switching from the boy with raven hair to a muscular dude with blonde hair, then reverting back to the green-eyed boy-"-and was supposedly the cause of said Hercules' death, a death by a jealous wife. I did my best to try to help heroes I had recognized, and helped others as well, but I do not remember my fate in the Underworld." During this lengthy speech on the spirit's part, her clothes changed into a Grecian toga-style dress with a gold belt with little leaves on it with small black shoes. Her hair flickered up into a loose ponytail, curls spilling out. After about a minute and a half, it changed back to a girl with a low ponytail, a florescent orange tee shirt and jean shorts, wearing black Converse gym shoes.
"Who were you in your second life?" Tyra pipes up, interrupting the silence that had descended upon the room. The spirit thinks for a while, and then nods.
"Andrea Crawford. I think I was just a mortal, but I do remember a reoccurring theme in her life: she was in love with her ignorant best friend, but he never realized it and she died never telling him how she felt." Her form flickered to a girl with pin-straight blonde hair braided back, wearing a pink tee shirt and black jeans with lace up boots. Her form changed again, back to the girl with the orange tee shirt and shorts.
"That reminds me of my third life, too," the spirit goes on, not waiting for an interruption. "The whole fall-in-love-with-your-best-friend thing happened to her too, except it actually worked out. He became her whole world, that boy did." She ends with a wistful sigh and one thought: Where was that boy now? The boy in the corner, still in the chair, resembled him quite a bit; in fact, they could be twins, but that could not be. They had died three months apart, he would already be in Isles of the Blest, for sure.
Hades spoke up, getting annoyed with him wasting his time. Sure, deciding Percy Jackson, the hero of Olympus' fate was exciting, but he wasn't so sure it was worth spending a day in the courtroom.
"Who were you in your third life, exactly?" he asked gruffly. The spirit spoke without hesitation. "Annabeth Chase. Wait, no. Annabeth Chase-Jackson." She nodded her head happily. On the other side of the room, the spirit in the chair gasped.
"A-Annabeth?" he asked, almost a whisper. His green eyes shone in the gray world of the Underworld. "It's me, Percy," he said, stepping up near the other spirit. Realization struck the female spirit. That was why he seemed so familiar; he was linked to her in every life, especially their final one; it was the epic love story of the century, as they both vividly remember Aphrodite saying. Neither spirit could believe it. They remembered the promises they made to each other.
. . .
"I'll wait for you," he had said as Percy. "I won't ever forget you. Not once, not ever. I love you, Annabeth, forever and always. Eternally." Those had been Percy's dying words.
Annabeth's dying words had been spoken after a tragic fall down a flight of stairs. They had been, "I'm coming, Percy. You don't have to wait much longer."
. . .
Hades finally understood why he had felt a pulling to judge duty that day; it was an omen from Aphrodite, who had been trying to make Hades, the god who least understood love, understand true love and what it meant. He had seen first person what true love looked like, as the male spirit twirled the female spirit around. (Tyra was trying very, very hard to hold back a squeal, and Thomas was reading the Bible.) This was love, in its purest form. As much as it amazed Hades, it also kind of sickened him. He liked death and horror movies, not love and romantic comedies. He cleared his throat, and the other four spirits in the room looked expectantly at him.
"I'm sure you remember your heroic feats to serve Olympus, Annabeth," Hades said carefully, trying to choose his words just right. If he didn't, Aphrodite would surely kill him for interrupting her favorite toy couple's afterlife reunion. "And due to the fact you achieved Elysium in both previous lives, and in your final life, you, too, have achieved the Isles of the Blest." He didn't need to weight her heart. He already knew the answer. The spirit took her hand off of the other's shoulder, and turned to face Hades. She had a bewildered look on her face. "Me, too?" she asked. "Who's the other?"
Hades merely pointed at the previously spirit, glowing with happiness.
The couple finally had peace, and gods knew they deserved it.