How Not to Land in Tartarus
A PJO drabble
by mew-tsubaki
Note: The Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus characters belong to Rick Riordan, not to me. My version of the fall of Percy and Annabeth. :') Read, review, and enjoy!
- ^-^3
They'd been falling for far too long, longer than humanly possible…than godly possible.
But every second of the way down, Percy had held on to Annabeth with the same amount of strength as when he'd first gathered her into his arms. Luckily, adrenaline was helping his grip not to slack.
At first the wind had been knocked out of him, but now the descent felt oddly steady, and Percy dared to speak. "Are you okay, Annabeth?"
She nodded into his shoulder. "Is it okay to talk?"
Percy squinted; it still was hard to open his eyes. Even if he could've opened them the whole way, he was fairly certain that, just like now, he'd only see pitch black darkness. "I think so. I haven't heard Arachne for maybe five or more minutes."
Annabeth tensed at the name. "Think she's gone?"
"As much as monsters can be, with the Doors of Death closed once more."
"I hope the others make it in time to stop the camps from fighting."
"They'll be fine. They've got Nico, and we've seen that he can handle himself and lead. And Hazel's good at getting others to listen. Jason's not so bad either, at leading."
"Yeah, but…we won't be there."
The comment was so Annabeth, he wanted to laugh. "Careful, Wise Girl. Your hubris is showing."
In response, she dug her fingernails into his back.
"Okay, okay, okay! Ouch…" Percy closed his eyes fully again and buried his face in her wavy hair. Beneath the sweat, blood, and tears, he could still pick up Annabeth's scent—the scent of the far-off Pacific Ocean, clinging to her like a remnant of California. The thought of the West Coast made him strangely nostalgic for New Rome. Not for Camp Jupiter, but for New Rome, and all the sights he'd seen…
"Will we ever hit the bottom?" Annabeth asked, her voice weak.
"We'll have to, if we're to get out of here. Have any plans yet?"
"Working on it. You?"
Percy began to say "Yeah" when his imagination, and other plans, got a hold of him.
"Percy?" Annabeth kissed his jaw to get his attention.
"Sorry…"
"That's not the first time I've seen or heard you wander like that. You've been…different since Camp Jupiter." She sounded sad.
"Well, I—" He stopped, because it hadn't been his imagination. They had been slowing down. All of a sudden, gravity made them feel lighter, because it wasn't trying as hard to pull them down.
Annabeth sensed it, too. She clutched him more tightly, and whispered, "Percy!"
They landed.
It was scary, that the landing was not what they'd expected. It had been a soft landing, on some kind of grass or dirt. And they hadn't hit the ground with enough force to blow them apart. No, there they lay, legs entangled, Annabeth's head tucked under his chin, and Percy's arms wrapped around her like a straightjacket.
"I don't want to open my eyes, not yet," Annabeth whimpered. He'd never heard her sound so vulnerable.
"Me neither." Percy swallowed the lump in his throat. "So I'll tell you something good."
"Okay."
"Annabeth," he said quietly, "we've known each other for years now. We've seen and done things that most adults can't even imagine. We've had to face almost every trial in existence. We've had to grow up too quickly."
Her cheek was at his collarbone, so he could feel her muster a smile. "Yeah."
"So when this is all over, marry me."
He said it in all seriousness, so it hurt when she chuckled, but he knew she didn't do it to be mean. "Are you kidding me, Seaweed Brain? We're just teenagers."
"We're almost legal."
"Yeah, but… Our kind rarely makes it to the age where we can think about that kind of future."
"I know…"
"And I know you told me about New Rome, but they also have a lot of legacies. The bloodlines thin out there."
"So maybe it's time for our camp to change a bit, for our bloodlines to dilute so monsters won't necessarily come after them."
Annabeth sighed. "Percy, you've done this proposal all wrong."
His shoulders slumped.
"There's not even a blue cupcake with a ring on it. Honestly."
He smiled again. He could tell she was happy, despite their surroundings.
"But, Percy… We're still just kids."
"Says the girl who got all parental a moment ago at the thought of our friends heading into danger without us."
She didn't say anything, so they stayed quiet for a few minutes. Then she added, "Percy, do you remember when we had…Atlas' job? Even for a short while?"
"How could I forget?"
"Well, we saw that our gray hair went away eventually."
He nodded.
"Well…mine's not totally gone."
Percy was stunned to hear this. "What?"
"No, don't worry. There are just, like, two or three strands left, and they kind of hide beneath the rest of my hair." Annabeth paused. "You have a couple, too, don't you?"
He felt ashamed for not telling her, but go figure that the Daughter of Athena would get it. "Yeah, but it's almost gone."
"Right. They're still fading. And I know that we'll get out of here, so… After all this is over, and our grays are gone, only then can you propose to me, Seaweed Brain. Though I'm sure you already know my answer." Then she tilted her head up, found his lips, and kissed him. She kissed him until they both stopped trembling. "I love you, Percy."
"I love you, Annabeth."
And then they opened their eyes.
- ^-^3
GAH. Sorry for the cliffie. I was just wondering what's been going on during/after that horrific fall… So I had to write something… Man, I really need to write more PJO fics and draw more PJO fanart. Though surprisingly this is my first Percabeth. :O
Thanks for reading, and please review!
-mew-tsubaki :3
*And if you enjoy PJO (especially the minor characters), then please swing by the Aphrodite's Rejects forum, the link to which may be found on my profile.*