So i was feeling a bit down and wrote this oneshot...Percy is 25 approx. Dats all I have to say!
His feet trudged along the sidewalk, the cold winter breeze whipping his face. His right hand clutched onto a brown bag as if it were his lifeline. All around him people were bustling with life. The shops were abuzz with loud voices and shrieks of laughter. Christmas was just around the corner . For most people this was the happiest time of the year... but not for him.
He tugged onto his coat with his free hand as he rounded the corner. He had been a New-Yorker all his life but he could never get accustomed to its cold winters. A 3-storey building loomed up before him. It seemed decaying and old with the brick red colour peeling off the walls and the concrete coming loose.
He bounded up the few stairs and opened the huge metal door which creaked under his push. He entered the hallway and instantly felt some warmth make its way up to him. Old or not, this was his haven and he wouldn't give it up for anything. He was just about walk up to the huge staircase at the far end when the door to his right was pulled open to reveal an elderly women dressed up in winter clothes as if she was about to go somwhere. Seeing him, her face lit up with a small smile.
," Hello Percy"
He mumbled back the greeting. He would have atleast smiled at the gesture any other time, but not today.
She seemed to realise something as her face morphed into one of sympathy and worry which seemed all the more highlighted by the flickering yellow light coming from her apartment." Is it that day already?"
All he could do was nod in his head as he desperately jogged to the stairs. As he bounded up it, he managed a final glance towards the lady. She was still standing there, her gaze full of pity and anguish and staring straight back at him as if to say 'it will be fine'. But he knew it wouldn't...it never would.
As he reached the top floor, he began fumbling through his pockets for the key. Taking a few steps forward towards the only door on the floor he inserted the key and with a heavy heave, pushed the door open. He entered the room and flicked a switch on the wall as light from a small bulb over him bathed the room with light. The room was very small, having just enough space for a couch, a sleeping bag and a small televesion. There was no kitchen, and the small door behind the sleeping bag was for the tiny bathroom. But considering this had been a storage room originally, he was satisfied. Removing his mittens and scarf, he walked up to the couch, spilling the brown bag's contents upon it, littering it with some daily required items and a bottle which looked suspiciously like alcohol; however the label had been ripped off.
Snatching the bottle he went out of the small apartment and back into the hallway. He walked to the door opposite his apartment and pushed it open, revealing a small ladder which opened out into the terrace. Soon he was sitting on a small recliner seat which he had placed on the tiny terrace a long while back The cold wind, now harsher than ever, was making his teeth chatter, especially now that he didn't have his scarf or mittens.
Ignoring the cold he opened the bottle with a loud hiss and checked his wristwatch.
11:58...anytime now.
A small smile crept onto his face in anticipation. He took a long swig from the bottle, as a few stars began flickering into existence in the night sky,forming the outline of teenage girl hunting something. Th grin on his face grew knowing that the constellation will only last a minute before fading away. It was new york after all; and stars let alone constellations were never visible.
Tears began rimming his eyes as he remembered all the memories of the girl in the sky.
Zoe...
People always said love was like a flower...it took time to grow and had to be nurtured before it bloomed in all its glory. But he never believed them. All he had known her for was a week, but he had loved her from the first moment their eyes had met...
Zoe nightshade.
No one had ever noticed the looks that passed between them as he fell more in love with the black-haired huntress. But how would they? He was a male and she was a maiden who had sworn off men. It was not something people had been expecting. .
They had never needed words or actions, their eyes conveying all their removed a ballpoint pen from his pocket and began examining it.
Riptide...her only gift to him and he had always kept it near him. Not that it wasn't useful but it had always signified a lasting bond between them and he would never get rid of it even if he could have.
The stars had begun fading again as they did every year after their two minutes of presence all over the world-courtesy of Artemis.
Today had been the day the love of his life had died...and he had never looked upon another girl since then. Sure there had been Annabeth and for a time he had thought there was something there, but it had just been an illusion, a way for his heart to fill the huge gaping hole. Since that fateful day he had always felt hollow and incomplete...maybe that was why he had left behind all former ties after the giant war; they all reminded him of her.
He thought back bitterly to that day again, when he had seen Zoe lying by that rock as the life drained out of her. He would have sided with Kronos himself if he could have saved her...but the look in her eyes had told him it would have been futile...And in that moment he had realised how completely in love he was.
As the life had finally left her eyes somethimg inside him had broken and he knew that he would never be the same again...just the husk of his true self.
He finished off the last sip from the bottle as the last of the stars faded out of existence. Tears began falling from his eyes as he muttered softly ," I am coming Zoe. I am coming. If only death can bring us together I would have died gladly..but you would have never forgiven me. So here I am living a shell of a life and bidding my time to when I can join you, my love. We will meet again soon Zoe nightshade and you better be ready because I am never letting you leave again" , he completed, his voice lost in the wind
With that he walked back towards his apartment,shoulders slouched; ready to live out his remaining life before he could finally be at peace.