Soooo this is one of those AU/Headcanon thingies where both people in your OTP don't see color until they meet and fall in love and then if one of them _ their world goes gray again (with my own personal twist(s) of course) If you don't know what I'm talking about, then keep reading, I don't wanna give spoilers ;)
Also this is basically an AU where Annabeth and Percy are living together in a rental house in Brooklyn, NY (with dreams to reside in New Rome in the near future). Right now, they are in their early 20s.
Annabeth was walking up Ocean Avenue to her nearest Aldi. The sun was sharp and there were very few clouds in sight as she looked up at the light-blue sky. A gentle breeze made her ponytail flutter causing her to adjust her Yankees cap (she decided to use it as a regular hat since it lost its invisibility powers). She promptly turned the corner (the one she had walked on at least a hundred other times) with her destination in sight.
There was a tree planted on the one side of the sidewalk that provided a good deal of shade. The deep, dark-green of the maple leaves contrasted nicely with the dark-umber color of the time-worn bark. She leaned against the scratchy surface of the trunk and took a sip of water from her backpack before heading back on the path that lead her to the store.
Annabeth looked ahead of her and saw that the parking lot was relatively empty; normally on a Saturday afternoon the store would be filled to the brim with people from all over the town. But today, the lot wasn't even a quarter-filled with cars.
Maybe some people decided to take a walk today, Annabeth thought as she grabbed a cart and walked inside the store.
She was greeted with a cool blast of air from the enormous AC above her. She assumed that they kept the AC on at all times, considering how hot it had been those past couple of weeks. Goosebumps formed on her arms as she made her way to the produce section and grabbed a bag of apples and oranges and some containers of lettuce.
She then made her way to the baking section where she picked up some flour and sugar. Before making her way out of the aisle, she suddenly remembered that Percy wanted her to buy some chocolate squares. Her mind instantly wandered to the conversation they had had before she headed out.
"Seaweed Brain!", she called up the stairs, "I'm going to Aldi! Any special requests?"
Percy poked his head from the second floor, a devilish grin on his face, the light from the stained-glass window below reflecting off of his sea-green eyes making them look multi-colored.
"Let me guess", she said with a chuckle, "You want chocolate?". He nodded, jogged down the stairs and pecked Annabeth on the cheek.
"I'm gonna be fixing those shingles that fell off the roof during that storm the other night while you're gone, so if you don't find me in the kitchen when you're back, I'll be in the backyard", he said, that adorable, mischievous smile still visible on his face.
She chuckled as she grabbed her keys and her backpack, "Okay, Seaweed Brain. Just don't die while I'm gone", she said with a wink and a chuckle.
"I won't, Wise Girl", he said as she headed out the door. Though she was fairly certain she had heard him say "I promise" before locking the door behind her.
She chuckled at the memory of the conversation. They had always had that habit of making the other promise not to die while the other was gone (Annabeth making Percy promise more than vice versa). As demigods in the mortal world, their scents were very strong, considering that they were both involved in closing the Doors of Death and that they were almost always near each other. Hypothetically, a monster could strike at any time, but it had been more then 3 years since they had ever been attacked by a monster when they were out of the protection of Camp Half-Blood (and they were together at the time which made vanquishing the monster fairly easy).
She had learned over the years that together, they were stronger.
She made her way to the side of the aisle where all of the chocolate was kept, and grabbed a medium-sized package of chili-pepper chocolate (Percy's personal favorite). She then proceeded with the rest of her shopping, making sure that she hadn't forgotten anything.
She walked towards the checkout, where the line wasn't nearly as long as it usually was when she went shopping. There were only 2 people in front of her and she hadn't recalled seeing anyone else in the store besides a couple of employees.
"Maybe there's some ball game going on or something", she muttered to herself as she loaded her groceries onto the checkout counter. She paid the appropriate amount of money with her credit card and transferred all of her groceries into the cloth bags she took with her on the way in before heading back outside to walk back to the house.
A sudden wave of heat hit her as she exited the store, but she didn't mind. As long as it wasn't too humid, she could withstand temperatures up to 90 degrees. Percy, on the other hand, liked the fall and winter much better then the warmer seasons. She never understood why (considering how much she despised the cold) but Percy seemed to relish in 40 degree weather.
The tree she had taken a break near, before getting her groceries, was in her sight and she decided to take another rest there before continuing. She set her bags down and took a sip of water, looking up at the puffy white clouds to her right that contrasted against the light-blue sky. She looked directly above her and saw just how vivid the dark-green colors of the leaves on the tree were. She ran her hand against the rough surface of the tree bark, taking in how much the green of the leaves and the dark-brown of the bark contrasted.
She always cherished how beautiful nature could be; she just loved how vibrant the colors were and how picture-perfect every scenery was (making her wish she had brought a camera). She knew it was odd, considering she grew up in the city, but she always had a feeling that it was connected to the fact that her sight was a bit different then the other demigods.
Before she met Percy, she had always seen the world through eyes that perceived colors as...duller. She never saw a bright, scarlet red like the packaging on the chili-pepper chocolate she just bought, she never saw the deep dark-green of the maple leaves or the dark umber-colored brown of the bark. The sky was never as bright as she saw it today nor were the clouds ever as pure-white. Everything was a duller tint of the same colors. Of course, she perceived regular reds, greens, browns and blues but they were never as bright as they were supposed to be.
That is, until she met Percy.
At first, she didn't know what to make of him. But during all of the adventures she had with him, she started to trust him, becoming his friend, and soon, his girlfriend. When they kissed on that night after the war with Kronos (underwater, thanks to the other campers) her eyes opened and she caught a glimpse of the most beautiful sunset she had ever seen; the oranges and yellows were so much brighter and the reds were so much deeper, making them all blend together in a spectacular sight to see. At least for her anyway. She hadn't known, until years later, that this was somewhat normal for the other demigods as well.
True love opened your eyes to a more beautiful world.
Although, for all of the other demigods, they had never seen color at all before finding their soul mates. Which, in a way, made their experiences much more extreme then Annabeth's. She never knew why she had always perceived color, even before Percy, but she had a good feeling it had to do with her respect and love for nature.
She grabbed her cloth bags full of groceries and set out on the path to her house. The sun was even sharper then it was when she was walking to the store and she noticed a droplet of sweat slide down her forehead as she took another turn into her neighborhood.
She looked to her right and saw the bright orange house that was a block or so away from their rental house. When her and Percy had first moved into the neighborhood, they were baffled by the brightness of the house but, after a year of walking and/or biking passed it, they were used to the unusual color.
Only there was something different about the house that afternoon.
At first glance, Annabeth couldn't put her finger on it. She slowed to a stop to look at the house more closely and saw what was different.
The house wasn't nearly as bright-colored as it usually was.
At first, she was baffled by the dullness of the orange. It usually was close to a neon orange but, today, it was more of a light-peach color; barely a shade of orange in general.
She walked until she was ahead of the house and turned so the sun was behind her but the sunlight wasn't the problem. The house really had lost its hue!
"What the..", Annabeth muttered. She shook her head and speed-walked up the hill towards their house.
I'll ask Percy about it when I get home, Annabeth told herself. She passed the more "normal-colored" houses of the neighborhood and her and Percy's rental house finally came into view.
Only there was something different about it, as well.
She stopped in her tracks as she realized the problem. She and Percy had worked on a garden together on the right side of the house. They grew tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, zucchini and bunch of different types of flowers such as lilies, daffodils, carnations and even sunflowers! All of these plants gave the house a very home-y feel to it and provided a pop of color to make up for the fact that the house was "dull-colored" (pale blue and white).
Only today the plants had lost their bright colors. The tomatoes didn't look as red; the cucumbers and zucchini weren't as green. The carnations were a paler yellow and pink and the sunflowers weren't nearly as bright as before!
"Something's wrong", Annabeth muttered to herself, panic creeping into her voice. She opened the gate to their house, locked it behind her and jogged over to their garden. Being yards away from the plants before, she had thought that she was just too far to take in all of their bright colors but, now that they were inches from her eyes, they were as pale and dull-colored as she had seen them from outside the gate.
"Percy!", she called. No response. She remembered that Percy had said he was going to fix those shingles that had fallen off of their porch roof during a very severe storm two nights before. She had thought she called loud enough for him to hear her from the backyard. Again, she began to suspect that something was very wrong.
Then she heard something crash and heard someone scream. Both were close; coming from the backyard! She jogged up the steps to their porch and unlocked the front door. The house looked in order.
Annabeth looked up the stairs at their stained-glass window and the same theme applied to it; the colors were as dull as the garden and the house down the street! The oranges, reds, greens, blues, purples, pinks and oranges were a much, much lighter and grey-er shade!
"Percy! Where are you?", she called, dropping the groceries and her backpack. No response again; surely Percy would be able to hear her from here! She ran over to the kitchen, opened the back door and shrieked when she saw what was taking place in her backyard.
Percy's ladder (which he most likely was using to re-attach the fallen shingles) was lying on the ground, a piece of the rung torn off. Lying on the ground, next to the ladder, - the missing piece of the rung in his hands - was Percy. She could see that the white shirt and jeans she saw him wearing earlier were soaked in blood, one of his sneakers was missing, his hair was a mess and he was panting. Towering above him were 3 empousai, all of them more then twice the height that Annabeth was. They had pale, chalky skin, blood-red eyes (though it didn't look exactly blood-red to Annabeth), fangs the size of an elephant's tusks along with one leg belonging to the body of a donkey.
"Percy!", Annabeth called to him, causing the 3 monsters to notice Annabeth for the first time. He turned his head to look at her and she saw that there was a huge gash above his left eyebrow.
She heard one (or all) of the empousai cackle. "Ahhh, and here comes his girlfriend! Ready to witness Percy Jackson's demise, little girl!?"
"Get away from him you monsters!", she screamed at them. Annabeth just noticed the trail of blood Percy was leaving behind as he slowly crawled towards the porch where Annabeth stood.
The empousai cackled again, "I don't think so, Annabeth Chase!", saying her name as if it were a vulgar curse word, "He will pay for killing our sisters! And he will pay dearly." During, him and Annabeth's adventures in Tartarus trying to close the Doors of Death (and trying to survive) Percy had killed a few empousai that were trying to make their way out of Tartarus.
"What about me, huh? I killed one of your sisters too!", she challenged, trying to buy Percy some time to crawl away from the danger.
"Oh, silly girl. We resent you for what you did to the ends of Tartarus. But we prefer the taste of young men's blood then that of a teenage girl. Now move aside so we may feast upon the blood of Percy Jackson!", the empousai in the center said, with approving gestures and noises coming from her companions.
Annabeth's mind was reeling - Percy would have a hard time climbing the porch steps, she was running out of things to distract the empousai and both her and Percy were unarmed (unless you count the piece of the ladder that Percy had grasped in his left hand).
Because of her lack of options she decided her first priority would be to get Percy out of harm's way. Without warning, she zoomed down the steps of the porch, wrapped her arm around Percy's chest (causing him to drop the rung of the ladder) and pulled him up the steps to get him inside the house.
"Get her, girls!", she heard one of the empousai scream behind her. She didn't look back for fear of what she might see. Instead she hurriedly tried to heave Percy up and over each step of the porch. Annabeth had to get him out of there.
She saw that he tried his best to walk up the steps but the tears in his jeans revealed that he was injured in multiple places on his legs.
She heard a crash behind her as an empousa knocked over their barbecue and hobbled up behind Annabeth. She heard another sound and turned to see a second empousa closely following the other one (with the leader empousa watching from behind).
Annabeth and Percy finally got to the last steps of the porch and she abruptly dragged Percy inside of the house and locked the screen door behind her. She knew this wouldn't stop the monsters from getting inside (at least not for long) but it was her only option at the moment.
"Okay, Percy", she muttered, "I'll set you down right here". She hurried into the living room and set him down on the sofa, grabbing pillows to elevate his head and legs since they had the most visible wounds (though she could see that he had injuries on his chest, from the blood stains on his shirt).
His breathing was labored and he was muttering incoherently - probably trying to explain what happened - but she couldn't understand him. She pressed the back of her hand against his sweaty forehead and felt that he was feverish.
"Percy, calm down. Breathe", she told him, soothingly. He stopped muttering and tried to take a deep breath (which ended in a coughing fit).
Annabeth heard the empousai screaming profusely as well as pounding their fists against the screen door. She knew she would have to fight them off by herself - as Percy was in no condition to fight - but she was hesitant to leave him alone.
She heard Percy take a much more relaxed attempt at a deep breath and he spoke fast.
"Annabeth...whatever you do don't fight them off by yourself", he said, his voice raspy, "They're bigger and stronger then I've ever seen them before. They snuck up on me and when I tried to fight 'em off with Riptide, they just grabbed the blade like it was nothing and tossed it across the street".
Annabeth had noticed that they were much bigger then the empousai they had fought before but she knew that if she didn't go out there and confront them they'd bust down their back door and go for Percy.
"Percy, they're gonna get in the house any minute.", she said, "They're after you, not me."
"They'll kill you to get to me if they have to. Besides, I'm already close to finished", he said looking down at his bloody attire.
Annabeth's heart skipped a beat as he said that, "Don't say that", she said, panic evident in her shaky voice, "You're gonna be fine. I'm gonna go upstairs and get some ambrosia for you, grab my dagger and kill those empousai." As she said that, blood trickled down the gash above Percy's left eyebrow down his cheek.
"You know that ambrosia can only do so much.", he said, defeated.
She didn't stay to listen. She ran upstairs, passing the dull-colored stained-glass window and turned left, down the hall towards the bathroom. Annabeth opened the medicine cabinet and grabbed the package of ambrosia that they kept for emergencies. She then ran out of the bathroom, into her and Percy's room. She opened the cabinet that was next to their ocean-blue bed (a very pale blue in Annabeth's eyes) and grabbed her dagger.
She ran out of her room and almost stumbled down the stairs as she heard a crash coming from the living room.
Annabeth unsheathed her dagger and turned the corner in the hall to see all 3 empousai in her living room, knocking over tables and vases, to get to Percy. They were so tall that they had to crouch to avoid hitting their heads on the ceiling.
Annabeth ran inside the living room to shield Percy from the empousai - she saw him scrambling to get something out from under him but had no time to ponder what. The empousai on either sides of the leader hobbled to the sides of the couch to try to pounce on Percy. Annabeth went for the creature on the right side of the couch and threw her dagger in the left shoulder blade of the empousa. The monster screamed in pain as Annabeth grabbed a vase from the floor (it miraculously hadn't broken from the fall) and hit the empousa over the head with it - the monster being too preoccupied with trying to remove the dagger from her arm to fend off Annabeth's attack.
Annabeth pulled the dagger out of the shoulder of the unconscious empousa - before the creature exploded in a flurry of dust particles - and turned to see the other two empousai hovering over Percy. He abruptly sat up, as one of the empousai struck at his leg, and rolled onto the floor before performing a sloppy somersault and vaulting to his feet. One of the empousai growled in frustration, lunged at Percy and got greeted by a swipe of Percy's sword, Riptide.
The empousa recoiled with the new injury in her neck and the leader empousa (which Annabeth noticed for the first time was the biggest of the three creatures by at least half a foot) charged Percy, causing him to tumble into the wall and drop his sword.
Annabeth raced to his side and attempted to stab the creature in the back with her dagger, but the empousa lunged at her, her foot-long razor-sharp teeth inches from Annabeth's face. The creature pinned down her arms, preventing Annabeth from striking at the empousa with her dagger again. Annabeth kicked the creature in the gut and the empousa jumped back in pain, falling to the ground (and knocking another table down in the process) before crumbling to dust.
Annabeth dropped her dagger and ran to Percy's side, hauling him to his feet.
"Are you ok?", she asked him, noticing how he was clutching his right shoulder.
"I think s-WATCH OUT!", he shouted, abruptly shoving Annabeth aside.
Everything seemed to happen in slow-motion from then on. Annabeth stumbled and fell when Percy pushed her and she craned her neck to see one of the empousai (the one that Percy had struck in the neck with Riptide) lunge at him with Annabeth's dagger. Annabeth stood up and ran, her plan to hit the empousa before it could strike Percy.
But before Annabeth could reach him, Percy was already collapsing to his knees, Annabeth's dagger lodged in the center of his chest.
"NO!", Annabeth screamed, as she ripped the dagger from the empousa's grasp and stabbed her repeatedly in different parts of her huge upper-body, all too late. After what had to have been 30 different stikes at the creature's chest, the empousa disinagrated into dust.
But not before Annabeth could get a glimpse of what appeared to be a sneer on the monster's face. A sneer that said You may have won the battle but I won the war.
Annabeth was panting from the adrenaline of stabbing the creature but despite that she was short of breath she turned and ran to Percy's side, tears falling down her cheeks.
"Percy? Percy? Please say something. Anything! Percy?", she sobbed, pleadingly. There were bloodstains all over his body, his clothing and even in his hair. She moved his head into her arms and turned it to see that one eye was partly open, a small glimpse of his sea-green eyes visible, the only color that Annabeth's eyes seemed to be able to percieve.
She looked up, her eyes stinging from her tears, and saw her whole world go black-and-white. Literally. It was as if some invisible vacuum was sucking the color out of everything. The sofa, the numerous flower vases scattered and shattered on the floor, the drapes, everything.
"Annabeth", Percy said, his voice barely a whisper.
"Percy!", she said whipping her head back to meet his gaze, "Oh please don't die on me. Hang on, I'll get help!", she said desperately, preparing to set him down and run to a phone.
"Annabeth", he said, the message all-too-clear in his tone of voice. It's no use. I'm dying.
She felt more hot tears flow down her cheeks and her lip trembled as she spoke her next words, "But-But you promised...", she sputtered, remembering the conversation they had had not more then 3 hours ago (although it felt like lifetimes).
"I know", he said gently, "I didn't mean to break my promise". She could hear the pain in his voice and could've sworn that she saw a tear run down the side of his face (though she couldn't be too sure due to her own tears blurring her vision).
"But", he said, his voice wavering, "I won't break this one. I promise that I'll see you in Elysium". She heard him take a shuttering breath before everything falling into complete and total silence, the only sound that could be heard being her sobs.
Percy's sea-green eyes, the last color in Annabeth's sight, vanished into a mid-tone grey, leaving Annabeth's world totally color-less.
At least that, years later, Percy managed to keep his last promise to Annabeth.
He saw her in Elysium.
Sorry not sorry. Mwahahhahahaha