Hey guys it's me again. I have writer's block. So that's fun. I'll try and get a chapter of The Meetings at the Mall out but I'm losing motivation, which is a shame since I have so many ideas for it. I also want to increase the lengths of the chapters so hopefully it won't be weird when the first five or so are around two thousand words each, then it'll jump to upwards of five thousand each. Hopefully you all enjoy this story though. Anyway, please REVIEW because seeing them is amazing and makes me feel good. Thanks.
Words w/out AN: 1002
Pairing(s): Percabeth
I am not Rick, so I own nothing.
Sleepless Nights (Without You)
It's been weeks. Countless excruciating weeks.
But she's still managed to find herself back here. Back where she last saw him. Back when she wasn't a mess. Back when she didn't have to put up a mask around her friends, so she didn't seem as broken as she really was. As lost as she really was.
She was Annabeth Chase. Saviour of Olympus. Wanderer of the Maze. Architect of Olympus. She was strong, composed, calculating. But now she's Annabeth Chase. Broken. Lost. Missing a piece of herself. Because as soon as he disappeared, something in her heart disappeared too. Replaced by an ever-increasing, gaping hole, that seemed to be consuming her. She was Annabeth Chase, and she missed her boyfriend.
So here she was. Drowning her senses in the closest thing to Percy she could find. His cabin. His clothes. His bed. It'd been too stressful, nerve wracking, painful, to walk around Camp Half-Blood. Everywhere she went, she was reminded of happy times, happy memories. Of her and Percy, of her and her friends. It was too much, she had to get away. To one of the only places that made her happy.
So here she was.
Wrapped in Percy's blankets, wearing Percy's clothes, laying in Percy's bed. Some would think she's stupid. Going to Percy's cabin to get away from the memories of Percy? It didn't make sense, but to Annabeth it did. Being in public, surrounded by other people, was too stressful nowadays. She had to be their leader, the responsible one. She had to be a role model for the new campers.
So she put up a mask.
She pretended to be fine, she pretended to be happy. And to some it worked. They saw her as regular, old Annabeth. But to others, to the ones who've known her longest, she was a mess. They'd try and talk to her, but she'd insisted she was fine. But the masks were exhausting. At one point she tried talking to some friends, but none of them could understand. What it was like to be in constant pain, never knowing if the love of their life was alive or dead, safe or not, whether they even remembered you. So she put the masks back up, because, even though it was exhausting, it had to be easier, anything had to have been easier than the constant pain she felt when she wasn't with Percy. She told her friends she was fine and she tried moving on with her day.
Of course they weren't convinced when they walked by the Poseidon cabin and heard muffled sobs.
So being in public was too difficult. That's why Annabeth like being alone. Preferably in Percy's cabin. She could stop faking her expressions in there. She could do what she wanted, whether it was sleep, surrounded by the intoxicating scent of the sea, or cry, where she was most comfortable and where no one else could see her.
The first few days she'd been shocked and sad. A depressing combo. Shocked that the one constant she had in her life had managed to disappear on her, sad that he was gone and she didn't know anything about what happened. After that she was angry. Angry that she'd somehow managed to become so dependant on some boy. But that only lasted for a day or two. Of course she had become dependant on him.
He was Percy Jackson. Hero of Olympus. Slayer of Kronos. He inspired loyalty. He was dedicated, motivated, passionate, happy, funny, perfect. His one weakness, was caring too much. Also a small circle of skin on his back, but that was for Percy and Annabeth to know only.
So she got swooped in, by the hero known as Percy, and she fell in love. And now that he was gone, everything came crashing down on Annabeth.
A few weeks after his dissapearence, she became exhausted. Unable to handle not having him with her. Unable to even function properly around the people she'd known the longest.
So here she is.
In Percy's cabin, in Percy's clothes, in Percy's bed. She's got Percy in her thoughts but not in her heart.
Not yet anyway.
Once he gets back, the gaping hole in her heart can fully be filled. And then, she'll have Percy in her heart too.
She can only hope she's in his.
And so Annabeth left the cabin, with a renewed sense of determination. She had to find Percy. Because she knew his Seaweed Brain wasn't going to be able to find her on his own. She had to quit moping around and actually do something that would help the other out. She had to build the ship.
Of course she realized she knew nothing about ship building, but that was just a minor detail in the plan to get Percy back. As she trudged down the hill and through the forest towards Bunker 9, where one of the new demigods, Leo, would be working on the ship, a familiar glint in her striking grey eyes returned. And the other campers noticed it too. The way she held her head with confidence, daring anyone to challenge her, to try and stop her from reconnecting with Percy.
So instead of spending sleepless nights in the Poseidon cabin, eyes red from crying, cheeks stained with tears, the smell of the sea overloading her and filling her with a sense of dread, she spent those sleepless nights with Leo, and the the rest of Cabin 9. Building the Argo II. With each plank of wood, or piece of metal, she was one step closer to seeing Percy, her Seaweed Brain.
Although her nights were sleepless, and she still had a mask, she was noticeably happier. Her friends took it as her getting better, a new sense of self worth.
And as the finished ship began its ascension, headed towards Camp Jupiter, towards Percy. Her thoughts filled with one thing and one thing only.
I'm right here, and I'm coming.