Alrighty... It was about time I sent this in! Personally, I think the ending sucked. I could totally have done better. This is post-HoH. Thank you to Percyjacksonfan3 (or Aria Taylor, I don't clearly remember) for the prompt!
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoH.
May the night heal us
They both knew it.
They both saw it coming.
They knew that Tartarus would still haunt them in some way.
But that didn't mean that it didn't hurt them.
In fact, it hurt a lot more worse than they imagined.
The first night, it was Annabeth. Her scream had awoken Percy immidiately, the others followed swiftly after. In a record-speed, the son of Poseidon sped across the field until he came to a standstill in front of the Athena cabin. The screaming lost a little of its volume, but it was still really loud. Another camper waddled out of the cabin. Percy recognised him as Jared, a son of Aphrodite who had taken to flirting with Annabeth when he wasn't looking. But besides the point. Percy took Jared by the elbow as the boy tried to leave. "How is she?" Jared snorted, and pointed to his cheek. "Doesn't this make it obvious? She smacked right in the face when I tried to calm her down. I doubt she wouldn't do it to you," Jared spat. At the threshold of the Aphrodite cabin, Piper shook her head. Sorry, she mouthed. Percy shrugged and rolled his eyes. As if that guy would ever change. He sighed, and walked into the Athena cabin. Annabeth was screaming and moaning and twisting in her sheets. Percy avoided her swinging arms, and pulled her against his chest. "It's okay," he murmured. "I'm here. We're safe." Annabeth's screaming turned into whimpering. She clutched herself onto him. Percy stroked her hair away from her face, and kissed her forehead. "We're safe."
A few nights later, it was his turn.
As if on que, Annabeth woke up; just before Percy's scream resounded throughout camp. She sighed, and ran over to his cabin. When would these nightmares ever end?
And so it went on. Over and over again, the nightmares came back, always surprising them.
One night, both of them didn't get any nightmares. They didn't get any sleep either. Percy, who was always getting calmer of it, decided they would need some time away from their beds, and see the lake for a while; at least until they got sleepy. It would be the best for them, and Chiron would totally understand. He did say that he was going to make an exception for them after that first night.
Percy wasn't surprised to see that Annabeth was already at the beach, staring across the water. Other demigods would've said that she was just daydreaming; Percy, however, knew the truth. He knew her eyes weren't looking at the water.
They were looking at nothing. All they saw was pure darkness.
"Annabeth?"
His voice was closer than she first thought. He moved to sit down next to her, and swung an arm over her shoulders.
"It's okay. It's all over now..."
"Percy?"
His green eyes stared at the side of her head. She couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze; she was ashamed. Ashamed of the fact she had tears staining her cheeks.
"Hey." His voice broke her train of thoughts. A finger tilted her chin so she had to meet his eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"What if..." She tried to look down again.
"What if Octavian did succeed at destroying the camp? What if Gaia had won at the last minute?"
"Annabeth..."
She wanted to stop herself. Her voice didn't listen.
"What if we did end up dying in Athens? What-"
His lips stopped hers from moving. She closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth of his body against hers. He pulled away a few seconds later. Determination shone in his eyes.
"That's over, Annabeth. Like I said: it's all over now. Don't dwell on it, okay? Even if we did die, we would meet again in Elysium. I know we would. And Octavian would die in the end; Gaia wouldn't let him live anyway."
That was true. Gaia didn't care about the offspring of the Olympians, or any other god. Octavian would've died anyway, even if he tried to stop it.
"I guess you're right."
"That's new.
"What is?"
"You agreeing with me."
"Shut up, Seaweed Brain." She punched him in the shoulder. He grinned back. Annabeth layed her head on his shoulder.
"Only a few more days..."
"Yeah."
"You do know I'm not going to do your homework for you, right?"
"Oh come on! At least you can tutor me?"
"We'll see, Perce. We'll see."
The next few nights, they didn't get attacked by nightmares. Sometimes, they would get flashes every now and then. That was all. No real nightmare anymore. Maybe they finally moved on...
My mind's still made: the ending sucked. Let me know your opinion by leaving a review on your way out!
R&R!
~Winter Chase