p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Annabeth Chase was no common girl. Therefore, Percy reasoned, she shouldn't have a common ring. Thankfully, Percy was no common boy either, and he would make sure that her ring was totally unique. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Finding that bit of White Celestial Bronze wasn't difficult. After all, he had gone through many more dangerous quests that came with no payment at all. The tricky part was avoiding his ever-inquisitive girlfriend. But, at the end, he managed to bring back that little chunk of shiny mythological metal without Annabeth noticing. As it turns out, kisses tended to be very, very distracting to her. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Finding the designers was easy. Percy worried about Tyson and Leo not getting along, but, well, the pair became an amazing team. They designed an exquisite band. It was thin and seemed to twirl when you held it to the light. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"The only missing element were the gemstones. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Percy's dilemma was hardem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;". /emHe could use light-gray pearls or sea-green emeralds. Hazel could get him the emeralds -they had made sure the curse was completely lifted- and he could easily grab a few pearls from the ocean. After unsuccessfully dealing with his indecisiveness, Percy decided to use both -surely Tyson and Leo could make something breath-taking with emeralds and pearls. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"When Percy finally had the final product, he was beyond himself with happiness. The ring was indescribable. He had a big Cheshire Cat's grin because, finally, he had gathered the guts toem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" propose /emto Annabeth Chaseem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;". /em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"However, he felt that something was… off. The ring lacked something, but em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"what? /emThe answer hit him faster than expected. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"The engravement…/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"***/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Who would have thought that planning a wedding was more difficult than winning a war? /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"The whole wedding was a logistical mess. Annabeth's mind was a mess. Strategies, diagrams, worries, anxiety, plan B, C, D… span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"She would have preferred a small dinner with family -like, em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"very/em close family- and friends. But NO. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Everybody/em wanted to attend the wedding. And Annabeth certainly didn't want to anger half of the Greco-Roman pantheon. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Therefore, the wedding would be accommodating gods, immortals, mortals, semi-immortals and demigods. From FOUR pantheons. FOUR! Besides, security was a must: they were giving a feast; they didn't want to become the feast. In addition, there were oh-so-many rivalries!span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanPoseidon and Athena wouldn't seat together. Paul didn't want to seat with Poseidon. No one wanted to seat with Hera. Hera, as the goddess of marriages, wanted to seat with em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"them/em…/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Yep. Complicated would be an understatement. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Yep. Annabeth was stressed. Well, that would be an understatement, too. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"The bride-to-be wanted to ditch everything. Her personal stress reliever and soon-to-be husband was in New York, so she restored to the beach. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Annabeth loved the beach. It reminded her of him. She seated close to Cabin Three, and, as she had done countless times before, examined her ring. For the first time ever, she removed it from her finger and hold it to the light. It was truly beautiful, with small sea-green emeralds around a mid-sized light-grey pearl. There, in the dim bluish light, something caught her attention./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"She gasped -and berated herself a little- because she hadn't noticed the small engravement in her ring, which read:em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" through hell n' back. /em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"A/N: I know that em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"through hell and back/em has a negative connotation, meaning something unpleasant; but I'd say that, for Percy and Annabeth, em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"through hell and back/em means that they, together, are stronger than any difficulty, because no difficulty can keep them apart. Cute, right? /span/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"The only good alternative I can think of is em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"never/em, because they will never leave each other's side. Who'd say that em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"never/em and em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"always/em could have so romantic a meaning? /span/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Finding that bit of White Celestial Bronze wasn't difficult. After all, he had gone through many more dangerous quests that came with no payment at all. The tricky part was avoiding his ever-inquisitive girlfriend. But, at the end, he managed to bring back that little chunk of shiny mythological metal without Annabeth noticing. As it turns out, kisses tended to be very, very distracting to her. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Finding the designers was easy. Percy worried about Tyson and Leo not getting along, but, well, the pair became an amazing team. They designed an exquisite band. It was thin and seemed to twirl when you held it to the light. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"The only missing element were the gemstones. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Percy's dilemma was hardem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;". /emHe could use light-gray pearls or sea-green emeralds. Hazel could get him the emeralds -they had made sure the curse was completely lifted- and he could easily grab a few pearls from the ocean. After unsuccessfully dealing with his indecisiveness, Percy decided to use both -surely Tyson and Leo could make something breath-taking with emeralds and pearls. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"When Percy finally had the final product, he was beyond himself with happiness. The ring was indescribable. He had a big Cheshire Cat's grin because, finally, he had gathered the guts toem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" propose /emto Annabeth Chaseem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;". /em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"However, he felt that something was… off. The ring lacked something, but em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"what? /emThe answer hit him faster than expected. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"The engravement…/em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"***/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Who would have thought that planning a wedding was more difficult than winning a war? /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"The whole wedding was a logistical mess. Annabeth's mind was a mess. Strategies, diagrams, worries, anxiety, plan B, C, D… span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"She would have preferred a small dinner with family -like, em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"very/em close family- and friends. But NO. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Everybody/em wanted to attend the wedding. And Annabeth certainly didn't want to anger half of the Greco-Roman pantheon. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Therefore, the wedding would be accommodating gods, immortals, mortals, semi-immortals and demigods. From FOUR pantheons. FOUR! Besides, security was a must: they were giving a feast; they didn't want to become the feast. In addition, there were oh-so-many rivalries!span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanPoseidon and Athena wouldn't seat together. Paul didn't want to seat with Poseidon. No one wanted to seat with Hera. Hera, as the goddess of marriages, wanted to seat with em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"them/em…/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Yep. Complicated would be an understatement. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Yep. Annabeth was stressed. Well, that would be an understatement, too. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"The bride-to-be wanted to ditch everything. Her personal stress reliever and soon-to-be husband was in New York, so she restored to the beach. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"Annabeth loved the beach. It reminded her of him. She seated close to Cabin Three, and, as she had done countless times before, examined her ring. For the first time ever, she removed it from her finger and hold it to the light. It was truly beautiful, with small sea-green emeralds around a mid-sized light-grey pearl. There, in the dim bluish light, something caught her attention./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"She gasped -and berated herself a little- because she hadn't noticed the small engravement in her ring, which read:em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" through hell n' back. /em/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"A/N: I know that em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"through hell and back/em has a negative connotation, meaning something unpleasant; but I'd say that, for Percy and Annabeth, em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"through hell and back/em means that they, together, are stronger than any difficulty, because no difficulty can keep them apart. Cute, right? /span/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;"The only good alternative I can think of is em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"never/em, because they will never leave each other's side. Who'd say that em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"never/em and em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"always/em could have so romantic a meaning? /span/strong/p