Run, that was the only thing he could think about, Run and never stop. Do it for me, Seaweed Brain.
Those had been Annabeth's last words to him, of course. Now it was all he could think about. All day, everyday, that's all he did. He ran, and hid. He could do nothing else. That was the way he lived now. There was no going back. He could think of no possible way of rewinding. He had no time for wishing he could go back, that would be his downfall.
Percy Jackson was alone now. Completely and utterly alone. His mom and Paul were dead. Poseidon was in the darkest depths of Tartarus. Hazel, Frank, Jason, Leo and Jason were all lost. Scattered alone around the globe, if not being held ransom by Gaea, or worst, dead. He had no idea of what to do. He was lost. Lost and alone.
He had lost track of time now. It may have been a few days, but it may have been a couple of months for all he knew. As much as he told himself that keeping track of time was important, he didn't know how to.
Today (or whatever he should call the period of time he spent rummaging around for food) had been a bad day. He had found nothing. He had supplies that would last for about another 2 days or so, but if he didn't find food, he was dead.
His only motive was surviving, and with no food, there was no surviving. He lived on that unspoken promise he had made to Annabeth. That was all he could follow.
That was all he would ever follow.
He had no objectives, just one thing in mind: surviving.
As you may imagine, it is easier said than done.
He had had times in which he had gone nearly crazy. Imagining to hear Hazel's voice coming from inside a cave. Leo's laugh from the other side of the river. Heck, he had even imagined that he had heard Frank screaming bloody murder right behind him.
But those had not been the worst times.
He had heard Annabeth scream. Piercing and loud. She's dead. She's dead. She's dead., he had had to tell himself., It's a trap, she's dead.
"She's dead," he had whispered to himself. "She's dead,". Realization had hit him in the face like a jet of water. "She's dead." he had said, a little louder.
"SHE IS DEAD!", he had screamed. He had tumbled to the ground and sat down, staring into space. "She's dead"
He had felt tears streaming down his face. Annabeth Chase was dead. Why wasn't he with her? He should be. He had promised, hadn't he? He had said she would never get away from him. But she had. Oh gods, she had. Where was she now? Was she in Hades? Was Hades still in the Underworld? If he died, would he finally be with her?
Percy had thought of a worst case scenario. If he died, what would be so bad about that? No more rumaging around for food, no more being in the constantfear of being caught by monsters. Just a little slip there, and there would be no more Perseus Jackson.
No. He couldn't afford to think like that. He had to continue. That had been what Annabeth had wanted. He breathed in. He was alive. Percy wiped his eyes and took a deep breath. He had to continue. If he didn't...
It had been a long time since that had happened, and Percy hadn't allowed himself to stop. He had been running, he had not stopped to rest, he had not stopped to sleep, the only stop he recalled making was to eat. He was close to breaking down, he could feel it.
But what was his other option? Liying down and sleeping, being haunted by nightmares, wake up even more tired than before? He was toast.
Hm, toast sounded nice. His stomach grumbled, but Percy knew better. He was down to an apple. One apple until he was out of food. One apple until he starved to death if he didn't find anything else to eat.
He sighed. Maybe it wouldn't kill anybody to get some sleep and rest...
He woke up screaming. His forehead covered in sweat, his whole body trembling. His eyes stinged, probably some dust.
This dream had been the worst of all, ever. This one could not have been more terryfying. Most of all, heartbreaking.
He had been with Annabeth in the Strawberry Fields, they were having a picknick. The campers were all around, picking strawberries, fooling around. Things had never been more perfect around camp. Then it all had faded. Just like that. He had woken up, the cold stone floor beneath him, alone and scared. It had been the worst because he had believed that the world he actually lived in was a dream. This awful, alone place was a dream, a nightmare.
But that was his reality now. That was his world now. And there was nothing he could do to rewind time. Nothing. He could just survive, breathe in, breathe out, repeat.
Find food, find shelter, move on. Live alone, tired, hungry. This was his reality now. He wondered what he could do to change this, his mind thought about that a lot this days. But he knew he couldn't do anything. He was just a boy. A boy wandering alone, in a hopeless world.
Just a boy with sea green eyes that had lost their spark long ago. A demigod whose hair had turned gray because of all the hope he'd lost. A tall boy, who now seemed small, all hope drained from him.
He was Percy Jackson after all. Percy Jackson who had defeated Kronos, but could not defeat Gaea. Percy Jackson who had saved so many lives, mortal and demigod alike, just to be left to die. Percy Jackson who lived on a promise he had made to the girl he loved, so long ago.
Percy Jackson who was just a boy.
A lonely boy, who lived by one thing, a simple word: run.
WORDS: 1027
A/N: Long time no fanfiction! Nearly a year, wow, I'm ashamed of myself. This is sort of an AU in which Gaea wins and Percy is left alone. It was quite hard to write, took me nearly a month, going back and forth between writing a huge amount and then hating it and getting mild writer's block. I actually started this as an entry to the Phoenix Awards but gave up and just posted it instead (if anyone's interested in the awards, the link should be in my profile, you have until August 22 to submit the entries). Well, I guess this is it, thank you for reading! Hopefully I will post more!
Oh, and thank you Liz (also known in as faded harmony) for giving me the link to the Phoenix Awards, I would have never written this without you, thanks a bunch.
-Fran