Hi. So, I guess Imma have another go at this whole multi chapter fanfiction thing. Reviews super motivate me. I have four chapters written right now but I'm gonna wait a bit before posting each one, mostly to buy myself time to write more chapters.
Hopefully my writing has improved since my last multi chapter because sometimes I read some of my old work and I'm like yikes.
Anyhoo, so I don't know if I've really seen a story like this? But anyways this will explore what Percy and Annabeth might have been like mortal. At times their mortal counterparts might seem OOC but (ideally) it's all purposeful and will be explained. You'll see I guess.
So yeah. If you like it REVIEW cause that literally makes me so much more likely to continue. Willing to accept feedback.
Just one week left until Dark Prophecy!
Also The Musical is getting a cast album! I saw the musical on their first preview night. Flew all the way from the midwest on my spring break. It was amazing. I'm so sad I don't remember every detail but at least I can relive it through the cast album when it comes out in June.
And that's it for this Authors Note
REVIEW and READ ON
CHAPTER ONE
Annabeth should've known better. Now everything was messed up and it was all her fault and Percy…
But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
It was a rather warm September night. She and Percy sat next to each other on his fire escape with their backs against the brick of his building. They hadn't said a word in over a half hour. Annabeth knew it was well past one in the morning at this point, but she wasn't tired. Or at least, she wasn't any more tired than she usually was.
About an hour ago Percy had woken up with a nightmare. Luckily, Annabeth had been spending the weekend with the Jacksons, so she was right next to Percy, ready to help him, but she knew the nightmare had been a bad one since Percy had yet to offer up anything about it. Meanwhile, Percy looked forward, down at his hands, or to his left towards the street. Anywhere but at Annabeth.
Finally, Annabeth broke the silence. "You wanna talk about it?"
A pause. "Not really."
"Was it about...ya know...where we went?" They'd been getting better, sure, but they still struggled with even saying the name.
Percy gave a dry, humorless chuckle. "What else could it be about? Maybe it was about the fact that we still don't know what happened to Leo? Or the fact that it was our blood that raised Gaea? Or maybe it was from last year's war? Or the two months I lived on the streets, hunted, with no memory. Or maybe-"
"I get the idea, Kelp Head."
Percy sighed and leaned his head back against the brick, eyes staring forward into nothing. "I'm just tired, Annabeth."
"Well, it is, like, one thirty in the morning."
"That's not what I meant."
Now it was Annabeth's turn to look down. "I know."
They sat in silence for several more minutes. Suddenly Percy let out a breath with such a force it felt to Annabeth as if he'd been holding the breath in since they got back to camp. "It's just-I'm trying really hard, Annabeth." He leaned forward, one of his arms resting on his knee while his hand fisted his hair. "I'm trying to, you know, not be...angry. Cause I am. But I shouldn't-I mean I have a right to be but…" He took another breath. "I'm not about to go around saying that the gods aren't the best option we have but that doesn't mean they don't suck." He paused and looked up, waiting for thunder, but none came. Maybe Zeus agreed. Or maybe he just didn't care. Percy pulled his beloved pen out of his pocket and just stared at it. "It doesn't matter how far I throw this pen," he said after a pause, "It will always come back."
When Percy got like this, Annabeth had to admit that it frightened her a bit. He was right of course, they had a right to be angry, but angry wasn't a word she liked to use to describe Percy.
They were getting better, really. They hadn't been shut up in his cabin as much towards the end of summer. They had hung out with their camp friends, and had even been able to spend a couple hours apart, not clinging to each other. People had started to smile when they saw Percy and Annabeth, seeing their old leaders resurfacing. Occasionally, it had been Percy and Annabeth who laughed the loudest during the campfires. There were some really good days.
Then there had been days when they'd wake up screaming. There had been days where Percy's eyes glazed over, too caught up in memories, and without thinking he'd end up putting his sword to the throat of someone who asked him if he was okay. There had been days when Annabeth had felt anxiety clawing at her chest and throat so painfully that she'd thrown all of her papers off her desk, remembering the inadequacy she had felt when trying to find Percy after he'd disappeared.
So yeah, there were definitely still some bad days.
Annabeth supposed this was just another bad day. Or night, she guessed. She tried to tell herself that for every bad day there were way more good ones in the horizon.
It still hurt though, and it was hard to stay positive. Percy was right, they'd been thrown on dangerous quests and sent to lead perilous wars more times than they should've. At barely seventeen, they were war scarred with PTSD, struggling to function at two different schools. They couldn't talk to anyone, because who would understand? It's not like they could get a therapist. Annabeth was sick of the looks she got during anxiety attacks, and suspected Percy was feeling the same.
So what could Annabeth possibly say to Percy? I'm sorry lacked the weight of the emotion Annabeth carried. You're right had more truth to it than Annabeth wanted to admit.
So instead Annabeth just leaned into Percy's shoulder and relaxed as she felt his arm snake around her like a reflex. He leaned down and gently pressed his lips to her head. He didn't pull away, though, and left his forehead pressed against her curls. Annabeth didn't know how much time passed before she fell asleep curled up against the boy she loved so much, who was more broken on the inside than he would ever admit out loud.
She should've known it wasn't a normal dream. That was her first, and probably biggest, mistake in this whole mess. If she had known then none of this would have happened. Then she wouldn't have...
She wouldn't have ruined Percy's life.
The next time she opened her eyes, or thought she did, she was sitting across from Percy. He was smiling and laughing at something she had said, and Annabeth was smiling too. She was smiling at the way his eyes lit up. She was smiling at the way his laugh always seemed to turn into that troublemaker smirk he never realizes he makes, that he doesn't realize she loves. She was smiling at the peace she felt, holding hands with her perfect boyfriend who sat across from her at some restaurant where they sat outside.
He noticed her staring and ran a hand threw his hair, another gesture that he didn't realize affected Annabeth so much. "What?" He was still smiling.
So was she. "Nothing."
He nudged her calf with his foot. "What is it? Tell me. Tell me, Annabeth, or I'll get really annoying real fast." He kept poking her with his foot, trying not to laugh. "Annabeth. Wise girl. Tell me. Tell me. Annabeth. Anna-"
"I'm happy," I said, interrupting him. He tilted his head and Annabeth just shrugged in response. "I don't know, I'm just happy." Annabeth looked at her and Percy's interlocking hands. "It's been a while."
"Why would you be happy, Annabeth?"
Annabeth looked up, confused, and saw the smile gone from Percy's face. She let go of his hand. "I don't understand…"
"We're not meant to be happy. Or maybe…" He paused, looking forward thoughtfully. "Or maybe it's just me." He turned back to look her in the eyes again. "Have you ever thought about that? Maybe you weren't meant for this dangerous life. Maybe you weren't supposed to to tartarus. Maybe just I was."
"Percy, why are you saying this?"
Percy smiled sadly, as if Annabeth was some silly child who didn't understand. "Because we're demigods, Annabeth," he said gently. "We don't get happy endings. We could be happy today and happy tomorrow and dead the next. You never know. We don't get the luxury of a hopeful future." His eyes were unreadable to Annabeth. "That's what you get when you're a demigod."
Annabeth felt shaken in a way she couldn't describe. She was frozen in her spot staring at the boy she loved more than anything in the world as if he was a stranger to her. "We can't help what we are, Percy." Her voice cracked when she said his name. It tasted like a lie.
Not Percy tilted his head. "And if you could?"
"Could what?" Annabeth's voice was soft and wary, her edge thrown off by the way those sea green eyes stared impassively at her. "Change who I am-who we are? Make us mortal?" Annabeth paused, but only for half a second. She wished she had paused longer. Later she'd wish she hadn't spoken at all. "Of course. I'd give anything for a normal mortal life with you, Percy."
"So you'd chose a safe mortal life, with Percy, over your demigod life."
Annabeth tried not to flinch at Percy's third person name useage. "If I had Percy with me. Yes. Yes I'd give anything to just be able to live a mortal life."
Percy smiled, but it wasn't any of the smiles she knew. "The choice is yours, Annabeth."
And then everything went black.
