As Annabeth waited in line, she couldn't help but but laugh as Percy stumbled in his new ghost-ish form. Dead or alive, he would always be her Seaweed Brain. She tried to shove him playfully, but her hand went right through him. Her smile disappeared.
Percy noticed. "Hey, we'll be in Elysium soon. With bodies!"
Annabeth smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "But what if we don't end up in Elysium? What if we end up in the Fields of Asphodel? Or worse . . . ." Annabeth shuddered. "The Fields of Punishment?"
Percy laughed, cheering Annabeth up a bit. "Wise Girl, that will never happen. We saved the world twice. Twice! That's gotta give us at least a square foot in Elysium, right?"
Annabeth snorted. She didn't want to admit it, but Percy was right. Usually she was the one reassuring him with logic - not the other way around. But here she was, acting like a teenager again.
"Sure, Perce." Annabeth knew he was right, so why did she have such a bad feeling?
She was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a rough voice cry: "Next!" She realized with a panic that she was next.
She glanced back at Percy, who gave her a reassuring smile.
It's now or never, she told herself. She stepped inside.
Before Annabeth were three chairs, each one even larger than the Olympian thrones.
A voice from the center cleared its throat. "Annabeth Chase-Jackson." They always began with the name, Annabeth remembered. Even if it was somehow wrong (which Annabeth doubted could ever happen), she knew that you should never speak unless spoken to - or there wound be . . . consequences.
"Savior of Olympus. Architect of Olympus. The first daughter of Athena to successfully follow the Mark of Athena to its end. Recoverer of the Athena Parthenos. Surviver of Tartarus. Wife of Percy Jackson. Mother of three. A member of the Seven. Protecter of the Ancient Lands."
Hearing all of her accomplishments out loud made Annabeth blush furiously.
Another voice, this time from the left, spoke next. "The most obvious thing to do would be to put you in Elysium right away."Annabeth felt relieved. "But . . ."
Annabeth's heart would've stopped if she hadn't already been dead. She almost said something - before she thought better of it.
"You're achievements are so numerous, more so than we would expect any mortal soul to achieve in five lifetimes, let alone three, that we would like to offer you the chance to skip over being reborn three times and directly enter the Isles of the Blest."
Annabeth felt a squeal escape her lips. She was so overjoyed - that is, until a thought crossed her mind.
"You may speak," the judge in the center allowed, as if he knew what she was thinking.
"Well, you see . . ." she started, "I'm grateful and everything, but what about the Seven? And all of my other demigod friends? What about -" Her voice cracked. "What about Percy?"
The voice in the center chuckled. "Percy? He was marked for the Isles of the Blest long before even the second great prophecy. The rest of the Seven? Well, Hazel was given the same fate, especially since she was denied Elysium the first time she died in an act to save her mother. Frank and Piper both received the Isles of the Blest, as they were just as deserving as everyone else. Jason, of course, made the Isles of the Blest, as well. Leo, however, was sent to the Fields of Punishment - I'm kidding!" he yelled, after seeing Annabeth's horrified face. "He was especially worthy of the highest honor, after rescuing Calypso, after all."
"What he is trying to say, dear," the left voice interrupted, "is that all of the Seven made it to the Isles of the Blest, as well. And all your other demigod friends are just a boat ride away in Elysium, where you can visit them anytime you want." The voice paused before saying, "Are you alright, dear?"
Annabeth was better than alright. This was all too good to be true. She felt like she would wake up at any moment and be back in Tartarus or somewhere else way worse than where she was. But she knew this wasn't a dream. Demigod dreams could never get this good.
Annabeth was vaguely aware of being sent on her way to the afterlife for heroes, being paraded through the cheering crowds of Elysium, and put on a luxury cruise liner. She hardly even registered that she was in her young body again (around 20 years old), or that she even had a body.
All she felt was bliss. Bliss that Percy was right behind her.
She arrived on a street named The Seven. Wow. They even earned their own private street. Each of the seven houses were gorgeous mansions, with beautiful gardens, huge yards, and incredible architecture. The street was more of a circle, like an enormous dead end street. In the center was a large community park, with a pond, wooded areas, swings, birdbaths, and more.
Annabeth loved it.
The first house she walked up to had a mailbox (was there mail in the Underworld?) that read HAZEL ZHANG. She walked up to the door, took a deep breath, and rang the doorbell.
A girl that looked about twenty with curly cinnamon hair, chocolate skin, and golden eyes opened the door. Her face broke into a large grin when she saw who it was.
"Annabeth!" Hazel cried, jumping onto the blonde. "Frank! Get out here!" she called through the doorway.
A twenty-year-old buff chinese looking linebacker ran to the door. "What's going - Annabeth!" His face broke into a similar grin. "It's so good to finally see you!" he cried, crushing her in a bear hug.
"You too!" Annabeth said with a light laugh. "Let's go find everyone else! I've missed them!"
In almost no time (Well, Annabeth couldn't be sure. Time worked differently in the Underworld.), Hazel, Frank, Annabeth, Leo, Piper, and Jason had all tearfully united and were sitting at a picnic table in the middle park. Leo was going on and on about the awesome stuff the houses had.
"-epic voice control lights! Can you believe it? And the graphics on the televisions! They're completely unbeli-"
"As good as all that sounds," Annabeth interrupted, "do you guys have any idea when Percy will get here?"
Annabeth almost wished she hadn't said anything. All of their faces darkened. "What?"
They were all silent. Annabeth wondered why didn't seem excited that Percy was coming.
Piper was the first to speak. "There's a reason we were so excited to see you." The others nodded in agreement.
"Not that we aren't simply glad to see you," Jason reassured her.
"We knew you and Percy would be blessed to die together," Hazel continued. "Something about a 'last mortal blessing' or something." Annabeth silently thanked the gods for that.
"So we thought that since you were here," Jason told her, "things would finally be set right."
"'Set right'?" Annabeth asked. "What do you mean?"
"We thought that Percy's death would alert to them that something went wrong," Leo said, ignoring Annabeth's question. He actually looked serious, which freaked Annabeth out a bit.
"What went wrong?" Annabeth asked. But no one acknowledged that they had even heard her speak.
"But since Percy hasn't shown up yet . . ." Piper said, and Annabeth realized that they were talking more amongst themselves than with her.
"This is bad," Frank finished for her. "Very bad."
The others nodded grimly.
"So what's going to happen to Percy?" Hazel wondered aloud.
Finally Annabeth couldn't take it anymore. "What's bad?!" she practically screamed. "What went wrong?! What's going to happen to Percy?!" she demanded.
The others all looked down.
"What-"
"Annabeth," Jason said, taking her hand. "You remember how Leo died first, right?"
Annabeth was a bit taken aback by the question, but she answered. "Yes. He was 68, and he was doing a crazy stunt on Festus 2.0." Annabeth chuckled at the memory. Festus 2.0 was what Leo called the new-and-improved metal dragon he had reconstructed when he was around thirty. A trick of 'easily going through an active volcano while it was erupting' had destroyed both Leo and Festus 2.0. At the time it had been devastating, but now it was rather amusing. "Why?"
Jason hesitated. "He wasn't the first to arrive on this street."
It took a moment for those words to sink in. When they did, Annabeth was only confused further.
"But that's not possible," she finally stammered out. How could someone have already been in one of the houses?
"It shouldn't have been," Leo said fiercely. Annabeth had never seen him act like this. "You have no idea how happy I was when Piper had that heart attack. Hey, you know it was true!" he shot at Jason after he gave Leo a look. "Being alone with him for so long . . . . I wish I could kill someone that's already dead."
Annabeth was very concerned now. But she was also very curious. "Who?"
They were all silent and grim, as if they had never heard her.
"You better come with us," Piper told her.
PERCY JACKSON.
That was what the mailbox read on the house they had taken her to. She was even more confused when they gestured for her to go up to the door.
When she got there she immediately knew something wasn't right. Her demigod senses had stayed with her even in death. But she was still a daughter of Athena. She had to know the truth.
She rang the doorbell.
After a few seconds of waiting, someone opened the door.
Annabeth gasped. "You!"
He was scrawny, had blond hair, and resembled an evil scarecrow.
"Me," Octavian said with a wicked grin.
Percy stepped into a large, circular room. Three enormous chairs loomed over him. He knew what was coming: "Percy Jackson, doer of blah, blah, blah." But Percy honestly didn't care about any of that. He just wanted to be with Annabeth. Whether that was in Elysium, the Fields of Asphodel, or heck, even the Fields of Punishment, he would follow her there. In the end, all that mattered was that they were together. He smiled.
A voice loomed over him, coming from the center chair. It seemed to be . . . growling? Percy dismissed the idea. Why would they growl at him?
"Octavian," the voice boomed. Percy's smile disappeared.
"I have been looking forward to this day for a long time," the voice on the left said cruelly.
"At last, we meet the mighty Octavian," spoke the voice on the right. There was no sunshine in their voice.
Then all three spoke at once. "We have so much to discuss."
1,839 words. Not bad for the first chapter!
This idea of what happens to our demigods after they pass just came to me and I couldn't get it out of my head. This story is the result!
You our don't have to leave a review, but it would be appreciated! This is my first story on this site and I don't expect much attention. All reviews are welcome, though! Don't hesitate to criticize.
If you enjoyed it, thank you! I hope you keep on reading! I have a lot of twists and turns ahead, as well as some major surprises.
Thank you for reading!
