Um, hi there! This is my first Percy Jackson fic, so uh, here it is!
beware, first of all, THE LOST HERO SPOILERS, this is post TLH, by the way.
It's definitely not my best work, and it was written on a whim and one sitting session, so excuse the lack of plot and the horrible writing and characterization. I just really needed to write something and get something out there because it's like, my epically needed issues. I will try to do much better next time! :)
anyway, please try to enjoy!
Love, May Lily
disclaimer: I don't own PJO or the Lost Hero or anything! :)
The Little Things
Maybe it's wishful thinking or maybe he's going a little insane, but he swears he knows this girl with the princess curls and the calculating gray eyes.
It's a bit of reassurance, finally seeing someone that looks remotely familiar in a sea of unknown faces to him.
She arrives and certainly makes an entrance, but even though there are two other people behind her (which he now dubs Pochahontas and Toolbelt), Percy only focuses his vision on her. He tries to get through the crowd of people, tries to get closer to her, but he can't. There are too many people with those cold glares and snarls on the edge of escaping from their lips.
He looks around and tries to find a way to get through, but they're holding him back, restricting him from getting any closer. Percy hears someone mutter, "new kid," condescendingly, but he just wants to scream in frustration.
"Don't," some girl, he remembers to be Reyna, warns him cautiously. Her fingers wrap around his wrist in a tight grip.
He wants to tell them, he knows her, he knows her, he knows her, and gods let him get through to her please, but somewhere in the back of his mind he knows that probably isn't the smartest thing to do.
Her eyes search the crowd, guarded definitely, her grip tight on a small pocketknife beside her. Then, Princess-Curl meets his eyes, the gray broken-but-trying-to-look-tough eyes surprising him, and he almost falls backwards because he feels the Earth moving under his feet. It's powerful, and he knows she feels it too, the bond that somehow they have but he doesn't remember.
She has the gray streak in her hair too. He doesn't know how, but as he reaches up to touch his, he sees a flash of what he assumes to be a really big rock but then, nothing.
She gives him a sort of conflicting smile - sad, relieved, happy, confused at the same time, and Percy sort of awkwardly does this little thing with his shoulders and his hand wants to go up to wave but then-
A boy steps out, blond hair, blue eyes, the sort of perfect-John-Smith guy to Pochahontas over there, and a series of gasps overtake the crowd. He doesn't know what's going on, but suddenly, Princess-Curl, Pochahontas, and Toolbelt are forgotten and everyone's sort of jumbling together to get to the kid.
Percy finds that he's the only one of a few who are still standing in the back, disinterested, his eyes shifting from John Smith to Princess-Curl - but she's not looking at him anymore.
He waits and waits and waits, but she never turns back to him, having being in a serious discussion with all the people around her, and then he just - leaves.
.
He's so confused and frustrated, it's not even funny. People keep trying to get him to remember (just remember something), but Percy just can't do it.
It's like his memory is deep inside a locked door with no way in, and everytime he tries, he just keeps getting pushed out. He doesn't know why he's a good fighter, or why he has a gray streak in his hair, or even who his mom is.
All Percy knows is what they've been telling him, what they've been shoving down his throat and suffocating him with. He's the son of Neptune (he forces himself to say this instead of Poseidon), and he's going to be a worthy warrior with some proper training.
And he knows that he feels mean, and harsh and disciplined and completely chewed up and spit out.
Oh, and another thing, he knows that her name is Annabeth.
.
It takes a while before he's able to catch her alone. Princess-Curl has been shoved around from Roman to Roman and he knows that it's a bit too much for her to handle, but she's doing it anyway.
Percy finds her sitting on a stump of a tree, somewhere in the middle of the small forest they have, her head tucked in her hands, her blond hair actually down from the high ponytail she usually has.
Is it wrong that he finds her completely beautiful?
"Hey," he says softly, gently touching her shoulder. "What's wrong?"
And he feels odd, because normally (well he doesn't remember what he does normally) he wouldn't really do this because he's all stiff and rigid like everyone else is this Roman Camp.
She looks up in surprise, almost prepared to hit someone, but then she sees his face and her eyes darken. "Nothing," Annabeth says, and it doesn't even sound like she was crying. She wipes her eyes with her sleeve. "I'm just a little, um, tired."
Percy sits down on the dirt next to her, his arms resting on his knees. "Are you?" He asks, skeptically.
"Yes," she replies, even more firmly.
He lets it this obvious lie go for the meantime and decides to directly attack the subject he's been dying to know. "You know who I am, don't you?"
Annabeth pauses for a moment, not sure what to do or if answering his question is a smart thing to do. She clears her throat before speaking. "Yes, I do," she answers simply.
Percy waits for her to add onto her sentence, but she never does, so he asks another question. "Were we friends?"
She has a small smile on her face. "Yes."
He feels a little frustrated, because that's all she's saying and nothing else and he honestly, truly, wants to remember. He's about to open his mouth to initiate a question again when-
"You don't remember me at all, do you?" Annabeth says this a small voice with all the courage she can muster, and he somehow feels extremely guilty for not remembering her or anything about her. She stifles a strangled cry, but he can hear it inside her.
"I can only remember your name," he admits, looking up at her sad eyes. "It's Annabeth, right?"
She nods, a quick short nod. "Do you know my last name?"
He racks his brain, but he comes up with nothing. "No."
Annabeth's right hand goes to her left arm, like she's holding herself together and he can't help this terrible feeling in his heart. It's like it's not there, and that he's fallingfallingfalling in a deep hole when he sees her. He's hurting her in some way he knows he can't control, but it doesn't hurt any less.
"If it helps," Percy tries to joke, a smile on his face. "I can't remember anything about myself either."
Then something hits her, it's like a lightbulb goes off in her head or something, and all of a sudden, she's spluttering random things at him like there's no tomorrow.
"Your name is Percy Jackson," she says quickly, and he can hear her sobs. "You like blue things and blue cherry coke and you have this little spot right here-" she touches the small of his back and tingles run up it like an electrocution. His eyes widen. "- that's your Achilles' heel. And you always do this thing with your hair-" her fingers swipe the hair out of his eyes, "that drives me crazy, but you do it because you like to annoy me."
"Annabeth," Percy starts, interrupting her, but she ignores him and continues.
"You drool when you sleep and you're completely oblivious, but you can kill a monster with one hand. You're always there for me and I know you'll never leave me and just-" she stops suddenly, burying her face his her knees, willing herself not to cry.
He almost wants to smile when things are starting to click for him. He doesn't understand it, but he can remember small things and it feels like a little bit has just been unlocked.
He adjusts himself so he's sitting in front of her, his fingers going under her chin to push her eyes up to look at him. "Your name is Annabeth Chase," Percy says, with an even voice. She looks puzzled. "You're deathly afraid of spiders and you love architecture."
"Are you-"
He shushes her before continuing. "Your favorite game is Sims City and you only put your hair down when you're not happy." He takes the hairband from her wrist and begins to push hair strands together. He ties it high and neat and smiles at her.
"I don't remember much, but I think it's a good sign," he says.
Annabeth smiles through her tears and inside her, she feels hope bubbling in her chest, ready to spill out. "Do you remember my nickname, Seaweed Brain?"
A wave of recognition passes through her at his nickname and then the word just pops up in his head. He grins, laughing. "Wise Girl."
So, uh, that's all!
And if you have any time, please check out my freshly-created livejournal called: kitkatsandme.
I just got started and I have no idea how to use it so- if anyone has had a livejournal and would like to tutor me, that would be awesome! :)
Love,
May Lily
