Title: As we used to be
Summary: Even Percy and Annabeth are subject to change.
Warning(s): none
Word count: 2,003
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO. I only own Nate and Becka.
a/n: I feel like some type of phoenix who was just born into a new style of writing. I must share this new style with the world. Enjoy.
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As we used to be
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"Come on, Dad!"
He looked up the trail to get an eyeful of sunlight. Blinking away the bright, dancing spots in his vision, he saw them - his daughter, his son, and his wife, who was way ahead of them all. He found the owner of the voice, and smiled.
"I'm moving as fast as I can, Becka," he said before taking another step in her direction. His back ached from carrying his pack for so long, and his joints seemed to creak like an automatons'. He admits, he wasn't as strong as he used to be.
The sound of their voices made Annabeth spin around to roll her eyes. "Oh come on, honey. I've seen you move faster than that."
"Oh yeah?" he raises an eyebrow as he takes one step, then another, until he's no longer meandering off of the path and falls into a steady trot. "I doubt it was in the last decade."
She's all ready turned back around, but he can feel her wistful smile. She's way ahead, but she's not as fast as she used to be, either.
Nathan catches up to him, panting and gripping the shoulders of his own pack with white knuckles. He doesn't look so good, and Percy raises an eyebrow at his son's condition.
"You okay there?" he asks, and Nathan closes his gaping mouth like a fish and turns to face his father.
"Yeah," he says quickly, and he readjusts the pack on his back for maximum comfort. "I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be fine?"
"You don't look 'fine' to me," Percy admits with a trace of a smile, because Nathan is twelve and kind of pudgy and not at all the fastest of the boys at school, and he loves his son even though he knows that he feels like he's not good enough. "How about we take a break and lay a load off? You look like you could use one."
Nathan looks relieved, and exhales. "Yeah...yeah, okay."
Percy turns his gaze back up the trail. "Mom?"
Annabeth takes a couple of steps before turning around. "Yes?"
"Is it okay if we take a break?" he asks, and he jerks his head at a panting Nathan, and an understanding passes between them. "Me and Nate here need to rest. You want to rest, too, Becka?"
"Okay," says his smiling seven-year-old before Annabeth heads back down. Percy and the rest of the Jackson clan wander a few feet off of the trail before finding a small clearing in the woods. There, sunlight streamed through the plentiful gaps in the forest canopy, and shone down where there was a good number of boulders to sit on, and matted grass on which they could rest their packs. They settled down, shed the extra weight, and kicked back as Annabeth passed out the sandwiches she had packed back at home.
Becka looked like a chipmunk, her mouth was so full. "These are really good, Mommy!"
"Thank you, Becka," said Annabeth with a kind, motherly smile as she ruffled Becka's wispy black hair. "Don't forget to eat the crust."
Becka already had a handful of bread crust in her hand. "But- "
"No 'buts'," Annabeth 'tsk-ed' before smoothing their daughter's hair back and kissing her on the forehead. "Just eat. Percy, do you have the time?"
Hearing his name, he snapped back into full attention, glancing at his wristwatch. "12:46. Almost one."
Annabeth pursed her lips, which was what she did when her thoughts were occupied. "We should hurry up and keep moving, then. We have to make it to the summit and back down before sundown."
He watched as Becka's eyebrows furrowed. "Why?"
"Because they're bears and mountain lions and snakes at night," said Nathan, and he leaned in close to his sister with wiggling fingers, and she squealed. "If we don't get back in time, they'll gobble us up for breakfast, and you'll be the main course!"
Becka's eyes went wide in childish fear. "Stop it, Nate!"
"Make me!"
Percy sighed. "Okay, Nate, you've had your fun." He turned to Becka, and leaned down close to her. He felt the tug of a smile on the corners of his mouth before whispering, "For the record, bears and mountain lions and snakes like big brothers for breakfast much, much better."
Nathan's face went red. "Dad!"
Annabeth gave him a not-so playful smack upside the head. "Percy!"
"I'm kidding, geez," he laughed before ruffling Nathan's hair and kissing his flustered wife on the cheek. He glanced at Becka, who was laughing and smiling a smile more radiant than the sun. Looking at his family, he was glad to know that the Fates could do something good for once.
"Nathan, Becka, hurry up!"
"We're coming, Mom!" Nathan yelled back up to them before scampering up after them. The sun was quickly heading for the horizon; the sky was alive with cawing birds and red-orange hues, streaked with purplish clouds and the Pandean smell of nature. With the world at his back and the summit at his front, Percy climbed forward with a sense of invigoration, knowing that the end was near.
Annabeth threw her pack onto the ledge above her, kicking off of the rocks below to climb to the top. She mumbled something to herself and placed a foot on a root by mistake, and before she could stumble, he gave her a shove and pushed her up so that she was sitting on the ledge. When she had recomposed herself, she grinned down at him. "Thanks for the push."
"No problem," he said with a smile as she extended down her hand. He took hold, and she pulled him up - up, up, up, until they were at the summit of the mountain, overlooking a mixture of woody, suburban California.
"Mom! Dad!" The voice of his son made their gaze snap to the ground below the ledge, where Nathan was trying to climb with Becka riding piggyback. He clawed the mountainside for a good hold, but found none. "I can't climb!"
Annabeth pursed her lips. "Stay down there, sweety, okay? It's not safe to climb. We'll be down in a minute."
"But mom - "
"Listen to your mother, Nathan," Percy ordered, and Nate dejectedly slid back down the slope. Becka climbed off, and they played below the ledge.
Sitting down and watching their children, Annabeth turned to him. "This place has changed a lot, huh?"
Percy inhaled the thin air, and gave her a shadow of a smile. The breeze blew his hair out of his face. "Yeah. Who would've thought that Mount Tam could've been this peaceful?"
In reality, it wasn't. Atlas was still up there yelling his head off, and the Hesperides were still down there tending to their garden. Despite this, Percy, Annabeth and their kids didn't see or hear a thing. When they had asked the gods to be able to live a normal life, they really had meant a normal life - a life that came with no monsters, no quests, only them.
He wondered if they had made the right choice. On late nights when he couldn't sleep, Percy often told himself that they had - that turning down immortality a second time was the best decision. Sure, Nathan and Becka could've been immortal, too, but to live forever with clear memory of his mistakes - to have his own children live the same fate - didn't seem like a good idea to him at all.
He glanced at Annabeth, who gazed at the scenery. Her gray eyes glowed with the color of the horizon, and from the pained look that she had, he knew what she was thinking - about the time they had held up the sky. About Thalia, and Zoe, and her dad. About Luke.
He watched her sigh, right on cue. "Things...things have changed, haven't they?"
"Yeah," Percy leaned back on his elbows, looking up at the sky, where clouds seemed to swirl in circles, and planes swam in the tainted blue. Funny, the sky was a lot closer than it looked.
He thought about what she had said, and a thousand memories flashed through his mind, some of them he was surprised he could even remember. Wow; he had enough crazy, near-death experiences to last for more than one lifetime.
He sighed. "They have. I'd say for the better."
"I'd say I don't know," Annabeth admitted to him, and her eyes shifted from the sunset to his face. "It took so much strength to get us here, Percy. I don't think I have anymore in me."
"We don't need strength anymore. We don't have to fight."
"No, we do need it, just not for fighting. We need strength for other things, like taking care of those two," she jerked her head to the side, and his eyes wandered over the ledge and down to their children. Nathan was chasing Becka up and down along the path, and they were both smiling as Becka's girlish squeals filled the air.
He smiled at them, knowing that his wife was right. They needed strength for more things than they realized.
"Fine, you're right. But you can't say that you miss the fighting."
She smirked. "Not at all."
Crickets chirped in the grass below. Comets, or then again maybe plane exhaust streaked across the evening sky and faded into nothing. The moon peeked out from the opposite side of the mountain, and a stinging gust of wind blew from one direction. They gazed at the terrain, and his eyes peered down to the trail. They had to get down the mountain soon; Nate had only been half right, there were snakes and possibly mountain lions. Percy wasn't so sure about bears.
"We should head back soon," Annabeth voiced his thoughts, and for some reason, she suddenly sounded different - still Annabeth, but older, wiser. He looked at her, and she wasn't exactly like the girl who told him that he drooled in his sleep so many years ago, but the woman he had fallen in love with. Woman. Gods, things had really changed, hadn't they?
"We should," he agreed, and as soon as she received his consent, she grabbed her pack and began to shrug it on.
"We're coming down!" Percy announced as Annabeth swung her legs over the rim of the ledge, and he quickly put his own pack on. "Get your pack back on, Nathan! We're heading back down the mountain!"
"Okay!" rang his son's voice, and Percy heard a commotion of footsteps as he swung his legs over the ledge. The rock between his gloves was rough and cool, and he felt his way down the steep cliff until his feet were back on solid earth again. He panted, winded more than usual.
Annabeth tied her gray-streaked blond hair back into a messy bun, and clapped her hands together. "You guys ready to go?"
"Ready!" said the kids in unison as they started running down the trail, all smiles. Annabeth smiled after them, but she lingered by him as he panted, still trying to catch his breath.
"Are you okay?" she asked. Her tempestuous eyes were full of concern.
Percy waved her off. "I'm fine. Just because things have changed, doesn't mean that I have. I'm as fit as ever."
The small amount of sunlight that still shone seemed to beam right down on Annabeth, so that the light caught on her princess-blond hair and shone like a corona around her head. She smiled, and she looked even more like the angel she was. "You're right, you haven't changed at all. You're still the stupid Seaweed Brain from twenty years ago."
"Wow, thanks."
She laughed, and Percy couldn't help but smile. "Let's go, Kelp Head. I want to get home back in time for dinner."
He grinned. "Dinner sounds nice."
They caught up with the kids, the moon at the backs and their path set towards the horizon, heading down the mountain.
He was pretty sure that he had been smiling the whole way down. Maybe, things hadn't changed at all.
...
fin