Hey, so this actually came to me via Town of Salem. Kudos to This Whit NiNja (I didn't find your username, so sorry) for the idea! "Well what if Leo didn't come back right after/ look at the book he says 'a hundred years'/ so what if tons of time passed"
If you've ever played Town of Salem...well all sorts of stuff comes up. And also they got hated on for not talking about the game.
BUT I GIVE #MUCHKUDOS TO THIS WHIT NINJA
'And then … wherever you want. How long was I gone, seriously?"
"Time is difficult on Ogygia,' Calypso said. "It felt like forever."
Leo had a stab of doubt. He hoped his friends were okay. He hoped a hundred years hadn't passed while he was flying around dead and Festus searched for Ogygia.
Four years ago. October 7, 2015
"Are you ready?"
They nodded solemnly. Percy hugged Annabeth a little harder as the bonfire smoldered in the moonlight, small, black, and pathetic. It shouldn't have been that way, he thought bitterly. It should have been glowing bright and purple, flickering at least seven feet tall.
There was silence as sparks landed on the dirt with a slight hiss.
"It still doesn't feel right," Hazel cut in, "I mean-"
Frank sat down next to her. "It doesn't feel right to any of us, Hazel, but it's been a year. Even if-if...well, if it were possible…"
Jason's face hardened. "But it's not. As much as I hate this, we have to move on. Let this make us better, not slow us down in future days to come."
"Amen to that," Reyna added. Muttering rose, but subsided as quickly as it had come.
Chiron repeated his question. "Are you ready?"
Percy glanced around, waiting for acknowledgement. First Annabeth, Piper, Frank, Jason...until all who was left was Hazel. She took a long breath, then nodded. "Yeah."
Chiron removed the pole that held the shroud, and it uncurled, stopping a centimeter above the ground. It was the most beautiful shroud Percy had seen by far, even Beckendorf's, with golden flames curling up the sides and glittering red stripes across the top.
There was a sob from someone in the crowd as it fell into the bonfire, and out of the corner of his eye Percy saw Jason comforting Piper. He instinctively clutched Annabeth closer, feeling her hands against his. The fire slowly climbed, devouring the shroud in a mass of black, seeming to grow with every second. And then, all too quickly, it was gone, until all that was left was a name written in Greek. A name that seemed to sparkle before it, too, turned black. Percy looked away, swallowing hard, the image burned in his mind.
Chiron murmured something in Greek, and the camp, now using the fire to warm their hands, whispered it in unison to the gods. Percy felt himself say it too, more of a prayer than anything else.
Αντίο, Λεωνίδας Βάλντμιδέκα...Αντίο, Λεωνίδας Βάλντμιδέκα...Αντίο, Λεωνίδας Βάλντμιδέκα...
Goodbye, Leonidas Valdez.
(A/N On the Riordan wiki, apparently Leonidas is his full name. Huh. Who knew.)
Present day. September, 2019
The sun was already setting by the time they had gathered around Percy's TV. Annabeth had been right; the beanbag chairs were a good idea. Percy jumped up from his own, opening a cabinet filled with DVDs. "All right," he announced, "Which movie?"
Hazel bounced in her beanbag, pointing at a row of discs in the cabinet. "How about...every Disney movie you have in there?"
Will and Frank nodded too, grinning, and Jason laughed. "You guys spend way too much time in college."
Percy raised his eyebrows. "Nothing wrong with a good old Disney movie, huh, Jason? I mean...it's not like you binged them all during college. How does Tangled sound?"
Jason turned red, and they all laughed. Annabeth kissed him on the cheek. "Tangled sounds great, Seaweed Brain, but…"
Frank pointed to another DVD. "It's old. So...The Incredibles 2?"
"YES!" Piper gasped, "Jason, please!"
Nico cracked a thin-lipped smile. "All hail Mr. Incredible."
Everyone laughed, except for Hazel and Frank. "We missed another inside joke, huh. Well…" Frank pondered something for a second, before he whirled into a fuzzy gray koala and climbed on Nico's head. The pale boy's hands flew towards his hair, and Frank got knocked on the floor, where he spun around like a roly-poly. Hazel cracked up.
Piper laughed in glee. "Well, Jason and I were watching The Incredibles, and I said he looked like Mr. Incredible...which he did not like-"
"And then Percy said he looked more like Dash, and the Jason broke the remote," Will continued, grinning, "And the Percy was all like, 'Dude! That's my remote!' and Jason was like 'Oh, oops' and just kind of ran into the bathroom-"
"And so-so naturally, I made the-the-" Percy could barely talk. "The toilet explode on his face,and then he was wet, and really, really, mad but whenever he tried to electrecute me he-he-a-a-a-a-a-a-u-u-u-u-g-g-g-h-h-h!" Jason had reached over, sending shocks through Percy's body. "That," he finished, as the shaking resided. "He did that."
Hazel raised her eyebrows. "Well, I believe Incredibles 2 is in order."
"Wha-no!" Jason protested, "At least let me-let me talk to Piper first! I need to-to straighten things out."
Out of the corner of his eye, Percy saw Nico and Will exchange glances with Jason, and his blue eyes flashed as he nodded. He felt a rush. This was perfect. Percy reached into his pocket and felt a sigh of relief; the ring box was still there. As Jason and Piper retreated to the kitchen, Percy pulled Annabeth to the side.
Her gray eyes shone with curiosity, and Percy took a breath, ignoring the fear in his chest, his hands clutching the box behind his back. "Listen, Wise Girl, look-I'm twenty-three, all right? And you're twenty-three, right? Well, I hope so, otherwise-nevermind. And-and you are amazing. You really are. And we've had more than our share of hard times."
"Percy, what's going on?"
Percy took another breath to calm himself. He looked into her eyes..."Ok," he decided, " Ok, I'm just gonna say it. This isn't romantic or anything, but...ok. Annabeth Chase-"
There came a shriek from the kitchen, and Piper burst through the door, laughing in delight. Hazel and Frank looked around, smiling awkwardly. "What's going on?" Hazel whispered, and Percy shrugged, nonplussed. He turned back to Annabeth, but she wasn't there. She had appeared beside Piper, and the two were talking animatedly.
Jason stumbled out of the kitchen looking nervous. "Is that a yes?"
"Yes!" Piper gasped, "Of course, yes, yes, yes, yes!"
Jason's grin widened, and Nico smirked. "I told you."
Percy shook his head. "What happened?" Even still, as he said it, he had a horrible feeling...please no...anything, anything but-
"Jason proposed!"
Percy's heart sank. He had spent so much time and energy (and money, for that matter), had prepared the guts to do it, but now…well, he couldn't propose on the same night as Jason. "Congratulations," he grinned, but it felt hollow.
Annabeth punched him in the gut, laughing. "All right, Seaweed Brain, you next. Come on, I'm waiting...And-oh, right! You were, um...telling me something."
Percy smiled, though it almost felt like a grimace. "I was just, ah...telling you...about Jason and Piper. That's it. Speaking of which, Jason-one sec. There's something in the bathroom that I need your-your help with."
He pulled Jason away from Piper and into the bathroom making double sure the door was closed before pulling out the ring box. He opened it, and Jason raised his eyebrows, smirking. "Thanks, but I think Nico's more your type."
"Wh-oh come on, Jason! It's not for you! It's for Annabeth!" Percy fumed, ignoring the joke.
"Wow, that's great! When are you-oh." His face fell. "Oh, dude. I'm sorry. I didn't know-"
Percy set the ring on the table, leaning against the door. "I know, I know. It's fine, but-"
Jason gasped as the door opened slightly, and Percy slammed it shut. Jason mouthed, It's Annabeth. Percy glanced to the ring on the table, and Jason bit his lip.
"What's going on?"
"You can't come in here!" Percy said desperately.
"Why not?"
Percy glanced at Jason, who made wild motions with his hands. "J-Jason's naked!" he gasped, and Jason's eyes widened. What?! Percy ran his hand through his hair. "I couldn't say I was naked, she'd come in!" he whispered.
"Why does anyone have to be naked?" Jason groaned.
There was a pause from outside. "Why is Jason naked?"
"I...uh...I had to show Percy something." Jason immediately slapped himself while Percy facepalmed.
"...Naked?"
"Yeah...I guess I have a...a…" he looked around the bathroom wildly. "A guy problem?"
"Is it the same thing Percy had?"
Percy jumped up, slamming his body against the door and Jason clapped both hands over his mouth. "We-we'll be out in a sec," he grimaced, motioning at Jason to shut up.
"Ok...there's still some of his medicine under the sink if you need it!"
Jason roared with silent laughter. "Okay," he choked through giggles, "Bye!"
Percy waited for the footsteps to subside, and then buried his head in his hands and groaned. "Thank god."
There was a moment of silence where only the ticking of Jason's watch could be heard. He cleared his throat. "So dude...what'd you have?"
Percy glared at Jason, who shrugged as Percy tucked the ring box into the drawer. As they exited, a chorus of laughs ran throughout the room, and Piper raised her eyebrows at Jason. Percy glanced from Annabeth to Piper to Jason's worried face and bit back a snort as Jason leaned in Percy's ear, grimacing. "Seriously, what'd you have?"
So that ending was a great scene from F.R.I.E.N.D.S., if you've seen it. Anyways, thanks so much. I'll update at 10 reviews, kk?
