Hi everyone! I'm writing again. I finished SON recently and I find Rick Riordan both exceptionally talented and irritating. How can he not know how many fangirls (and fanboys) there are waiting anxiously for the reunion of Annabeth and Percy?
Anyway, review, please. I do the whole review-for-review shabang.
This is not a sequel to 'When You're Gone'. Sorry, lovelies.
Disclaimer (does anyone else still do these? 0.o): I do not own PJO&Co.
End A/N
Feeling.
She was familiar with it, yet she was foreign with it. Anguish, hurt, loneliness- these were but few of the feelings she has felt for the past eight months. Lust, desire, love-these were now foreign to her in a way. It had been so long since she had last had Percy's arms around her, his soothing voice shushing those nightmares of Luke's immolation, his laugh echoing through the woods, over the water, in her mind. He would greet her with her nickname. He would kiss her slowly, unsure, yet hungrily.
Did she forget those feelings? No. There was no way she, Annabeth Chase, would ever forget those feelings.
And yet, Percy had forgotten her. She let the pain clutch her heart and close her eyes for a moment before plastering on a strong-faced facade.
A soft knock of someone's knuckles rapped on the half-open door. "Annabeth?" It was Jason.
"Come in," she spoke, hoping her voice was a thousand times stronger than it was. Jason peeked in nervously before stepping inside the small bedroom with two beds, one unoccupied.
"Huh." He said, putting his hands in his jeans pocket and leaning back on his heels. "Why didn't Piper want to share rooms with you?"
"She preferred the single bedroom next to the stairs. She likes to wake early and have some peace and quiet without waking anyone." She smiled, remembering Piper telling her this. How could someone ever dislike Piper? She was so sweet, so honest. Annabeth noticed the glazed-over look in Jason's eyes and the small smirk that appeared on his face, but kept it to herself. Some moments others liked to keep to themselves.
"That's...so Piper. Um, yeah. Anyway, we have another hour before landing. Leo is sending a message to Camp Jupiter, telling them of our arrival. He wants to know if you...wanted to record it?"
Jason shifted feet, clearly uncomfortable being in the small room with Annabeth. She was hunched over a tiny desk, papers of the design of the Argo II strewn throughout the room. She was sure she had a grimace on her face.
A message? Her mind immediately wandered. Would Percy see it? Would he recognize her? What if he didn't...
"Um, tell Leo he can take care of it. He's the boss of this ship, more or less." She swallowed. She just couldn't risk it.
"Definitely less." Jason smiled, tilting his head at Annabeth. She laughed, thinking of Leo and his curly hair and impish features.
"Let's not burst his bubble."
"Ah, if you say so. I'll pass the message. Want me to, uh...send Piper down here?" His brows were furrowed, intent on reading her expression.
"Why?" Annabeth was truly perplexed.
Jason blushed a little. "Well, you know, you'll be seeing...yeah. And I'll be seeing..R-Reyna. It's hard."
Annabeth looked down at her papers. It was a kind gesture but all she could respond with was, "Oh."
"Or you could be totally functional and not in need of any female-or male- assistance. I don't know. I'm just nervous."
She looked up, startled. "Am I not functional?" She almost snapped.
Jason closed his eyes and sighed. His expression read, "Kill me now". "No, Annabeth. I'm..whatever. I get it. See ya." With that, he turned and walked out, down the hallway and up the stairs the the control room. Jason was the type of kid that didn't expect apologies from hurting girls.
But Annabeth wasn't going to be labeled as such.
She sighed, gathered her thoughts and walked towards the control room slowly.
"Hey! Greetings from your friends at Camp Half-Blood, et cetera. This is Leo. I'm the...What's my title? Am I like admiral, or captain, or-"
"Repair boy!" Piper offered. Annabeth stopped at the doorway and stifled a laugh.
Leo continued, "Very funny, Piper. So, yeah, I'm...ah...supreme commander of the Argo II. Yeah, I like that! Anyway we're gonna be sailing toward you in about, I dunno, an hour in this big mother warship. We'd appreciate it if you'd not, like, blow us out of the sky or anything. So okay! If you could tell the Romans that. See you soon. Your in demigodness, and all that. Peace out."
She heard the rolling of parchment and entered the room, leaning against the door frame and crossing her arms.
"Yours in demigodness?" She smirked.
Leo looked up, unashamed. "Yeah, I keep it real. Let them know we're at least the same species." He smiled, looking Annabeth up and down. "See you have descended from the Chase Cave."
"I wasn't in there long," she said, walking over to check the coordinates and gauges.
"Pfft." Piper scoffed, walking in followed by Jason. He smiled at her sheepishly. He must've not wanted to do the recording either. "Five hours, Annabeth. My gods, since nine o'clock. In the morning. But it's good to know I'm not the only one awake before noon." She scowled at the boys who shrugged.
"Late nights, ladies. Late nights." Leo chuckled, sharing a glance at Jason. Jason rolled his eyes.
"For him that means late nights snapping his fingers to see pretty fire dance in his hand."
"Yeah," Leo laughed. "And you daydreaming about Piper."
Jason blushed and swatted Leo with the back of his hand on his chest. "Shut your face."
Leo laughed, shaking his head. Piper looked at the ceiling as if it was made out of poision.
"One hour, lady and gents." Piper sighed, smiling.
"Yeah! Sweet mother, I'm so excited. And terrified." Leo gushed, wiping oil off of his plaid shirt.
"Yeah, one hour." Annabeth muttered before taking the seat reserved for her.
Feeling.
It was something she lacked at that moment.
They were on the deck, sitting around a small table, playing Go Fish.
"Piper, you got a one?" Jason asked, biting his thumb nail. Piper looked at her card briefly.
"Nope." She said, popping the 'p'.
"Leo, do you have a five?" She asked.
"Uh, no." Leo answered, not meeting eyes with anyone.
"Don't cheat." Annabeth scolded lightly. She was numb all over. Leo looked up.
"I'm not!"
"Give me the five, Leo." Piper said.
"No!"
"Give it." She demanded sweetly, using her charmspeak. Jason looked up at her, and raised an eyebrow.
"Oh. Um. Okay," Leo said quietly handing over the card before realizing he let Piper win. She paired the cards before slamming them down in the center of the table. She stood up, throwing her hands in the air and doing a little dance.
"Dance with me!" She giggled, pulling Jason and Leo out of their seats. She let go of Leo but held on to Jason for a moment longer than necessary. They started to dance like eighties rock bands, and looking on, Annabeth couldn't help but laugh.
"You guys make an excellent team." She smiled at them, happy yet sad. Wasn't that her, Percy and Grover once?
They chuckled one last time and fell back into their seats. Leo somehow poked his eye and was holding his head while chuckling.
"Enough about us, Annabeth." Piper wiped fake tears away. "A daughter of Athena losing a game? The world is coming to an end. Oh, wait. That was a bad pun."
"Well, when you're a few miles away from the Roman camp for halfbloods, you lose focus on who is hiding the five." She joked, poking Leo. He swatted her hand away playfully. At one time, she would have vowed revenge against the charmspeaker. It was almost insulting to lose to this game.
"Nervous, eh?" Jason said with a heavy accent.
"Jason, please refrain from mocking Canadians. One day, a Canadian will eat you." Piper reprimanded.
"Thanks, Pipes."
"Oh, anytime. But seriously now, Annabeth, just take deep breaths. Jason remembers...things. Places...People." She furrowed her brow, glaring at her winning pair.
Jason cleared his throat.
Annabeth smiled reassuringly at him. Didn't he know how crazy they were for each other?
"What makes you think I'm not okay?" She asked. It was almost a challenge. Go on, she wanted to say, try me.
"Annabeth," Piper spoke softly, leaning her elbows on the table. Her kaleidoscope eyes bore into Annabeth's grey ones. "Are you on a swim team?"
The question startled Annabeth for a moment. Swim team? Hah. "No?"
Piper's eyes gleamed mischeiviously. "Oh, but your shirt says you're the captain of Goode High School Swim Team."
Annabeth looked down. Sure enough, there was a dark grey team shirt with the high school's logo and the motto 'just add water!' plastered across her chest. It was Percy's shirt, thus it reached her mid-thigh and was hiding her jean shorts.
Annabeth's face turned crimson. She didn't realize it until then just how much she'd been attached to all things Percy. His sweatshirt she wore on deck at night. His pillow under head at night. The only thing missing, was him.
"Oh, I'll go change before we land. When do we land?" She askd quietly, her voice showing more than she wanted it to. These were the only people, save Chiron, Grover and a few of her siblings, to see Annabeth so...broken.
Leo stood up and walked to the edge, looking over it. "I'd say, like, five minutes." He sounded nervous, as if this were his wedding day or something. He left the edge and paced.
Annabeth stood up, very much aware of Piper and Jason's eyes studying her. She turned around and walked the length of the deck and descended the stairs before either of them could try to comfort her any more.
She entered her room and opened a tiny drawer. There, she thought, a good T-shirt. It was the same one the other three had on: the orange Camp Half-Blood one.
She changed her shirt slowly. Sure, she was grateful for Piper's restless help. She appreciated Jason's empathetic smiles. She should even thank Leo for doing stupid things, such as poking his eye while dancing, because it lightened the mood.
But Annabeth was nervous. She let down her curly blonde hair, which reached the top of her hips, tickling her waist as she walked. She combed through it meticiulously, parting her bangs to the left and tying an elastic around her side pony. Wisps of hair framed her face, her chin-length bangs wavy and curled at the bottom. Piper always gushed at her hair. "Curls, curls, and more curls, Annabeth. It's so gorgeous."
Annabeth's shorts were one of her shortest pair, but they would have to do. It wasn't like she had a washing machine on the giant flying ship. She tied her converse on and strapped her dagger belt over her hips. It tilted to the side her scabbard and dagger were on. She walked to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. She looked good. Percy loved it when her hair was like this. He wrapped his finger around a single strand and twisted it into curls before letting it go. "Boing," he would chuckle.
She washed her face, and brushed her teeth once more. She was checking her face for imperfections and found none when she felt the ship's descent.
She was about to leave the bathroom when she had a startling thought. "Where's my necklace?" She whispered to herself before darting to her room. The ship, descending closer and closer to the ground. She should be up there, representing her home. She did that better than Piper or Leo. What was it Travis and Connor called Percy and Annabeth? The mother and father of Camp Half-Blood.
"Mommy, daddy told me I couldn't put manu-er, fertilizer on Katie's roof!" Travis whined once. Percy glared at him for ratting him out.
"Annabeth-"
"No, Percy, don't justify their jokes with an answer." She scolded, turning and walking away with a ghost of a smile on her face. Her and Percy, parents of Camp Half-Blood!
Necklace! She thought, where the hell are you?
She looked at her bed, there it lay on Percy's pillow. "Oh," she whispered, snatching it up and latching it on while taking the stairs two at a time. The ship was still descending when she ran over to stand next to Leo.
"You know, if I had a girl wearing my shirt while I was gone, I'd be one happy boy." Leo smirked, despite his terrified-looking face.
"I represent home better with this on." She smiled. She turned her head to the edge. Below, there were hundreds of people. And was that a town? She wasn't sure, she was too busy looking for a familiar black-haired boy. It shouldn't have been too hard, Percy had almost every Greek feature one could have. Everyone below them had that Roman look that Jason possessed.
"Yeah, I guess so. I'm just trying to make it all a little easier for us." Leo said, glancing at Jason. Jason's face was unreadable and his eyes were locked onto a brown haired girl with a purple toga on. Piper was looking between Jason and the girl. Is that Reyna? her eyes seemed to say.
"At least they aren't aiming weapons at us," Annabeth tried to joke.
Leo smiled. "Hey, I told you, reassuring them we are the same species always works."
She laughed. They were silent the rest of the way down. When they landed, Leo walked over to the hatch and put his hands over the button that opened it.
"Ready, y'all?" He asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be to walk into a camp full of heavily trained demigods." Piper said.
"Hey, at least this is better than crashing into one." Jason joked, the strain in his voice obvious. He shot Annabeth a playful glare.
She laughed. "I've had worse experience entering a camp for the first time."
Leo's eyes flickered with curiosity. "I bet. And let me guess, Percy's was eventful too?"
They laughed, mostly because of all the stories they heard about Percy. It seemed like the sixteen-year old had gotten into everything. Only Annabeth knew that it was true, she had been there for almost all the stupid things he'd done.
"Just press the button before they think we're prepping an army in here." Piper giggled.
Leo pressed the button and they stepped down the steps.
Hundreds of faces greeted them, but Annabeth only needed one.
A/N Hey, guys, I'm thinking this could be a four or five chapter story. I'm also thinking of changing my pen knew my name is so...used?
SO vote: greyblur or greylight ?
Reivew! Yours in demigodness, annabethjackson121