See end for AN
From Percy's point of view, he should have seen it coming. If Annabeth were here, she'd tell him he shouldn't have expected it. Logically, statistically, innately, they couldn't have seen this coming.
The problem is, of course, that she's not here.
It starts when he wakes up, sunlight streaming into the Poseidon cabin. He grumbles a bit, stumbling around like he usually does. Later, he'll kick himself for not realizing Annabeth's not there until after breakfast.
"Hey, Malcolm, do you know where Annabeth is?"
The son of Athena frowns. "I thought she was with you."
Next, he tries the training fields. The arena. The Athena cabin. He asks the satyrs and nymphs in the woods. The lake. A last ditch attempt at the beach. By now, most of the camp has been alerted to the missing daughter of Athena.
Percy can feel a humming in his veins, desperation and nerves pushing him to move, even when there's nowhere to move to.
"Percy," Chiron lays a hand on his shoulder when he's searching the cabins for the third time. "Come with me,"
They go into the Big House, and Percy calls Annabeth's father. He doesn't know where she is. He calls his mother.
"Are you sure she's not at camp?"
"Yes, mom," It's as short as he's ever been with her, but by now anger has tinted the anxiety. He hangs up after a terse goodbye.
"She's gone." His voice is flat, barren of emotion.
Chiron shuffles in his peripheral vision. "What will you do?"
"Find out where she went."
Clouds gather over camp and the wind creates tornados that propel leaves off the ground. The energy that was bubbling under Percy's skin now radiates outward, except the desperation has given way to rage.
Blackjack canters nervously when Percy mounts him, but does what is asked. The flight to New York is swift, as if they had harpies on their tail. He lands in the street, trusting the Mist to keep them safe, and storms right up to the Empire State Building.
"Give me the key to Olympus, now," he barks at the security guard.
The balding man stutters. "Sir, I'm afraid I-"
"Shut up," Percy snarls. "The key. Now."
"Olympus is closed," he says. "The gods have ceased communication. I-it's closed. I don't have a key,"
The news reports the next day will say that it was a freak earthquake. Just an unfortunate occurrence in Manhattan, albeit a costly one. The fissure will run under the Empire State building at its strongest point, but radiate out for a few blocks. The subway system will not be affected, but a water main does break. The worse damage is the flooding, which will shut down a few streets and cause damage to businesses. There will be no eyewitness accounts of an angry young man walking away from the scene, completely dry despite the geyser behind him, with a hurricane in his eyes.
No reproach comes from the gods. The security guard was telling the truth. If the gods won't communicate with Percy, then he'll take it as a sign of free reign.
He goes home for a day, just to get some supplies, and then disappears. The rest of Camp Half-Blood is doing their own searching, but he goes rogue. Grover IMs once, and they share whatever news they have, which is nothing. Two days later, he dreams.
Find the boy with one shoe.
That's all he gets. Find the kid that has one shoe. He chooses to ignore it. If that's all the gods are going to give him, they shouldn't be expecting much in return.
Percy stumbles upon the boy by accident. He's in Nevada, debating on whether to enter the Lotus Casino, when he feels a disturbance. The air is Zeus's domain, but the storm that's brewing is powerful enough to attract attention. Percy knows it has to be something he can either fight or force information from. He ends up fighting the monsters, then the person with one shoe.
"Who the hell are you?" He has Riptide pointed at the kid's neck. His two friends stand to the side.
"Hey, I don't know what going on, man-"
Percy presses Riptide deeper. "Try and come up with something,"
"I'm serious, I don't remember anything!"
That gives Percy pause, because he feels a little bad for these guys. They are new demigods, clearly clueless. If this guy doesn't remember anything, if he lost his memory…
The sympathy fades when the crazy one lobs a piece of rubble at Percy's head. It bounces off, harmless, and Percy spares an annoyed look. The Latino kid looks equal parts terrified and awe struck.
"Look, I don't know who the hell you are or what's going on, but Coach Hedge just got sucked into a-a tornado or something-" The girl speaks up.
"There's nothing we can do for him now," Percy looks down at the spider web cracks in the glass. "We need to leave,"
He whistles for Blackjack. The girl and crazy kid look dumbfounded, but the blonde one, the one with one shoe, is less struck. Blackjack takes them to land two at a time.
"Go back to camp," Percy murmurs. "Get some rides for these three,"
Are you sure, Boss? Blackjack stomps nervously.
"Yeah, we'll just camp for tonight or something," Percy sighs.
He walks back to the trio who are huddled together. "So, I never caught your names."
They introduce themselves, Jason, Piper, and Leo. Percy can recognize Piper now, daughter of a famous actor. He doesn't say anything though, which he thinks she appreciates. She's okay. Leo is a little annoying. Jason is just annoying because he was the one unfortunate enough to be wearing one shoe.
He gets them around a fire and passes out some protein bars for dinner.
"Now will you tell us what's happening?" Piper asks. He gives the whole story, trying not to insert his own bias. He doesn't need to poison these guys before they've even lived in this world.
"How'd you find us?" Jason asks when he's done with his explanation.
"Felt a disturbance from the storm," He shrugs. Then, because he's feeling a little guilty, he apologizes. "Sorry about going off on you. You're important, I just don't know why yet."
Then Percy stands, walking away. From the middle of the desert, you can see thousands of stars. They twinkle down, mocking him, stories of heroes and legends that got to be up in the sky for all of time. They did their part, and now are frozen. After their battle, they were done.
The night is cold, but Percy doesn't sleep. In the morning, Blackjack arrives with reinforcements and a message for Percy. If he does not return to camp, he will be banished forever.
Percy's reluctance to be back at camp is clear as soon as his feet hit the ground. "Why did you call me back, Chiron?"
His old mentor sighs. "You did not have permission to leave,"
Percy laughs sardonically. "Since when did that matter?"
Chiron purses his lips, ready to reprimand Percy, but his expression changes when he looks over Percy's shoulder. "You're supposed to be dead." Then Chiron excuses himself, disappearing into the Big House.
Since Chiron isn't around to do his job, Percy makes sure the kids have guides. He's there for a minute before going to the office in the Big House, getting a few maps, and retreating back to the Poseidon cabin. Planning and strategy was always Annabeth's job, but she's not here so Percy will have to do it for her.
When letters starts to spin and Percy gets twitchy, he leaves the cabin for the beach. One of the side effects of the Curse of Achilles is the fatigue, but when he's keyed up like this it's a weird limbo. His fingers are twitching, grasping for a fight, but his brain is short-circuiting. The ocean helps ground him a little.
Percy is standing in the shallows, looking out at the sound. He's looking at the sun, thinking he'll have to go to dinner soon, when suddenly he's not seeing the ocean anymore. The light is murky, and when he turns his head it's with considerable resistance.
He's underwater, Poseidon's palace.
"Percy," the god rumbles, appearing in his line of sight.
"Why did you bring me here?" Percy can't muster the will to be polite. "Why did the gods cut us off from Olympus?"
"It is Zeus's order," Poseidon frowns. "I am taking a risk by talking to you."
"Where's Annabeth?" Percy growls. His father has to know. Even if he doesn't, Percy knows that Poseidon isn't completely clueless.
"I cannot say," Poseidon winces, reaching up to massage his temple. "Listen to me. You must stop looking for her. You must help Jason."
"What?" Percy has no influence over the water here, but if he did it'd probably be boiling.
"I'm sorry," Poseidon's voice fades. "It shouldn't have been you."
Piper and Leo get claimed. They go on a quest with Jason. They come back telling him that Annabeth has lost her memory and is in a camp for Romans. Jason is a child of Jupiter. He's Thalia's brother, but a son a Jupiter. It makes no sense, and what makes even less sense is why Hera took Annabeth away.
"Why not me?" Percy asks one night, staring at the sky. "Why her?"
Who is it going to be more painful for when they finally meet? Him, who will have all the memories of his best friend and the girl he loves, or her, who has nothing? Annabeth, who can start from scratch and remake a life where she didn't run away at seven, or Percy, who's convinced he'll never get over Annabeth?
The ensuing months drag on. He still looks for Annabeth, this time with considerable caution. He leaves after school Friday to go search the coast of Florida and spends spring break in Washington. No Annabeth, and no Romans.
Finally, the Argo is complete. They have a destination. There's a plan, one that must be executed by seven demigods. Percy thinks that seven is supposed to be a good number, maybe as good as three, but it does seem a little excessive to him.
However, he can't spare a thought for anyone else besides Annabeth as the Argo sails over the green hills of California. It's so close to her home, Percy finds himself wondering if she recognized anything. Maybe something that jogged her memory?
There is one thing that haunts him. A dream, not a normal demigod one. Demigod dreams are startlingly clear, but this was murky. Although his feet were still, the world zoomed past him at impossible speeds. One image froze. Annabeth. He called for her. She said his name. He woke up.
Over and over he had replayed that moment in his mind. The way her face looked. How she had said his name with surprise and a little bit of hope. He tries not to get his own hope up. If Annabeth doesn't remember him, if this the end…no he can't think like that.
An annoying statue tells them they can't land in New Rome, something about the ship being a giant weapon. Jason negotiates, trying to figure something out, but Percy gets impatient.
"Look, let's just park the thing here and go," he says.
Piper and Leo look at each other, shrugging. "Sure,"
They begin to get ready for descent, Leo fiddling around at the controls. There's a burning under Percy's skin. He can't wait. "I'll see you guys down there," he jumps over the side.
They're only a hundred, maybe two hundred feet up. Percy reaches out, trying to feel the ground. He's always been more attuned to water, but hey, his father is also the Earthshaker. In the months he spent looking for Annabeth, Percy had plenty of time to practice with his powers over the earth. Percy lands with a colossal BOOM, the ground rippling under him to absorb the impact. The Curse also helps to make sure he doesn't have any broken bones.
He straightens from his crouch, feeling a little bit like a superhero. The dust swirls around him, just beginning to settle. Percy rolls his shoulders, shaking his limbs out a little. Just because he can survive a jump like that doesn't mean it's fun.
What's even less fun are the arrows that fly at him. Percy let's out an undignified yelp. All he's wearing is a leather vest. He crosses his arms in front of his chest, and most of the arrows bounce off. When the volley breaks, he climbs out of the makeshift crater.
Percy hadn't noticed it before, but his work isn't the only disastrous landscaping that's been done. There are plenty of other craters, torn up dirt, burnt grass. All signs of a battle, and by the looks of it, it was pretty bad. New Rome obviously won though, judging by the ranks of Roman soldiers now advancing on Percy.
Maybe jumping from a ship unannounced like a superhero after a big battle is not his brightest idea.
"Stop!"
Percy's blood freezes. He knows that voice.
"Stop, he's a friend!" And then she breaks through the ranks. Percy barely registers the people behind her. He has eyes for only one woman.
"Annabeth," Percy breathes, talking an involuntary step forward. She's a vision, a goddess in purple robes and that perfect blonde hair.
Then Annabeth is running towards him, and before he knows it his feet are moving to. Percy doesn't even think to slow down as they get close. They careen into each other, almost falling over, but Percy uses the momentum to swing Annabeth around.
Her laughter fills his ears. Tears drip onto his neck, where her head is buried. Percy can't tell if he's laughing or sobbing.
"Annabeth," he says again.
"Percy," she whispers, and everything settles down. The buzzing, burning in his veins quiets. "Percy, I remember."
Reluctantly, Percy pulls away, setting Annabeth down. "What?"
"I remember everything," Annabeth smiles through her tears, cradling his face in her hands. Was her face always this far away when he looked down? He could have sworn she was taller, or maybe-
"You grew," she laughs, choked. Annabeth's hands run down from Percy's face to his shoulders, observing.
Percy takes the opportunity to do his own observing. Annabeth is a little paler, a little skinnier. Her hair is longer, reaching the small of her back. She still smells like lemons, somehow. He laughs brokenly along with her as they trace each other's faces, relearning.
It takes a while for Percy to muster to courage to kiss her. They are embracing, his forehead touching hers. Annabeth presses a little closer and their noses bump. They inch closer and closer, shuddering breaths shared in the small space. Percy feels her lips brush his in what can barely be considered a kiss.
Annabeth sighs. Percy kisses her upper lip, then to lower, then both corners of her mouth that has curled up into a smile. Then, the dam breaks, and he's really kissing her, and she's kissing back, and he can't get enough of Annabeth Chase.
When they finally break apart, they are laughing again, giggling like it was the first time their lips had ever met.
"I love you," Percy says impulsively.
Annabeth reaches around his body to hug him tight. "I love you, too,"
They don't separate, not when Piper, Jason, and Leo catch up, not when the Romans meet them. There's a feast, even if a few Romans didn't call the arrival of the Greek a celebration. The prophecy is discussed, along with other important matters. Percy can't bring himself to care much, not when Annabeth is here after being gone so long. There's so much he wants to share and even more that he needs to ask.
Annabeth sighs, leaning into his side as Hazel talks. Percy lowers his mouth next to her ear. "Ready to save the world again?"
"With you?" Annabeth grins. "Always."
I literally had this titled "I don't even know" in Word. I wrote it in two days, no beta, very little editing. I knew that if I kept it, I'd just keep going over and over it and making changes and never being satisfied. So here, you get this mediocre piece.
Please review. I know I haven't posted anything in months, but the reviews really do help!