TLH SPOILERS ALL OVER THE PLACE,
But no spoilers for Son of Neptune.
written 27 December 2010
Title: Never Knew I Needed
Word Count: 2000, hallelujah
Rating: K+
Characters/pairings: Percy/Annabeth
Summary: The only thing Percy Jackson didn't have was his memory, and he was beginning to think he could do without.
Author's Notes: Surprise!fic for greenconverses at Livejournal, using the sample prompt "the love you lose" she provided at pjo_xchange (Livejournal community), which I kind of confused with part of the title of her post-TLH ep The Things You Love / You Never Want To Lose, so ~ I read it as "the love you never want to lose." X| Anyway, prompt misunderstanding aside, it's surprise!fic, which is always fun to do. Hope you had a grand Christmas, bb!
Additionally, several details (Roman camp being called Camp Palladium, Reyna being Praetor of the Fifth Legion) from tatooine's epic TLH B-side The Stolen Goddess have sneaked their way into my head!canon, and thus have been copy-catted here.
Never Knew I Needed
Mastery of all things sword, check. Mastery of all things water, check. Invulnerability, check. More than a little attention from pretty girls, check. The whole camp's hero-worship, check.
The only thing Percy Jackson didn't have was his memory, and he was beginning to think he could do without.
At first he'd felt out of place here at Camp Palladium, but that unsettled feeling had started to fade after he beat a few overconfident Ares (no, Mars) kids in the arena. Anyway, now he was the king of camp, even if he couldn't read any Latin beyond "Carpe Diem," leading the Hermes (it's Mercury, idiot) fort to declare him a Son of Robin Williams.
He didn't really understand-he'd just woken up one morning in the Second Legion's fort, with no idea who he was, not to mention what he was doing in a building for the offspring of a goddess with no mortal children-but he went with it, at least, training with the Praetor of the Fifth Legion every day and sometimes with the Praetor of the Eleventh too. He hoped to figure the whole mess out, but didn't put much effort into it beyond checking the pockets of the jeans he'd been wearing when he woke up. He didn't find much, just a random ballpoint pen and a tattered Metrocard subway pass that someone with very bad handwriting had scribbled and doodled on.
Annabeth -
I need to discuss Capture the Flag strategy with you.
Meet me in the armory tonight at 11?
- Percy
Yeah, he didn't even know where that had come from.
He actually lost all but a bit of interest in finding his memory after a couple weeks-he didn't know anything about who he was, but big deal, he sure could handle a sword. His new friends didn't care about the past, so why should he? Yeah, Reyna from the Mars (yes, Mars was right) fort and a few other Praetors kept mentioning a guy named Jason Grace, which got to be really annoying, but Percy put up with it. After all, he needed people to train with, and they were the only ones who could touch him.
So. Life was good. He adopted the same "eat, sleep, train" mentality as the rest of them, and it worked out fine. Was he happy? He didn't know about that, but Lupa told him that being happy wasn't the reason he was there, and he couldn't argue with that.
Enter the kids from that Greek camp, begging him to come with them and talk to a horse named Chiron, and they failed to impress him at all. Why should he leave here, where he excelled, to go to a camp full of inferiors? Even that pretty blonde girl was a mess, claiming to be a daughter of Athena but just glaring and sniffing every time she came near him. She didn't strike him as very wise, to say the least. He didn't even ask her name.
Soon, it had been a full two days since the three Greek campers had arrived, and he was pretty sure Lupa's hospitality was beginning to wear out. That Valdez kid kept making cracks about Camp Palladium's traditions, and they didn't even make sense-who would choose to play Russian Roulette instead of Capture the Flag, anyway?-and the blonde girl claimed she had news of Jason, but wouldn't say anything unless Percy would agree to go with them.
"We need to get you back to camp, Seaw-," she'd start, but then she'd set her jaw and sniffle a lot, and he'd snort. Crying again. Gods, you'd think she was a descendant of Neptune too, for all the water she produced.
It was only when he heard the girl in the snowboarding jacket-Piper-comforting her that he paused. "He'll remember, Annabeth. He will." And that name rang a bell.
He thought back to the first morning he'd been here. That pen and...the subway pass. A note from him to...her? The mopey girl with princess hair? He stopped walking away. "Annabeth? That's your name?"
Her head jerked up and she raised her eyebrows. "Percy? You remember?" she said breathlessly, her eyes sparkling.
"No," he said, with less disdain than he'd planned. "It's just...did I know you?"
"Yes," she said, her eyes wide as she tried to convince him, "yes. You knew me. We knew each other. Well."
"Hmm." Percy said, the arrogance leaking back into his voice. "Well, I'm sure I deserved to have a pretty girl to follow me around back then, too. Later." He started to walk away.
Annabeth's cheeks burned. "'To follow you around?' Oh, no, Kelp Head. I was-am-no trophy girlfriend. I kicked your butt more than once, let me tell you."
Percy straightened. "Huh, poor little Athena girl is upset-and making rash threats, too." He shook his head. "What do you think, guys, could she kick my butt?"
He elbowed Bobby, who snickered, and Reyna shook her head too. "If I can't do it, nobody can, Percy. Yeah right, Daughter of Minerva."
Annabeth fumed. "I did too-and I'll do it again. Right here, right now. If I win, Percy comes back to camp."
"And when you don't, you'll finally shut up, won't you, you little brat?" Reyna snarled.
Annabeth grunted and Percy noticed her rolling her eyes. "Whatever, Xena. Let's get this over with."
Five minutes later, Bobby and a couple of the other Mercury kids had set up a ring for the fight. Percy decided on a nice golden sword, and Annabeth unsheathed her knife. She glanced at him, a certain wariness in the curve of her lip. Weak, decided Percy.
"Begin," called Reyna, and Percy immediately lunged for the girl's throat. She almost fell backwards while jumping away from his sword, and the Romans laughed. She flushed.
He was lost in the heat of battle, only relying on his reflexes and his sword. He hardly noticed the betrayed look on his opponent's face when he went for the kill again, this time aiming straight for her heart. She parried the blow this time, but there was still no way she could win. His strength was far greater than her speed, and she didn't stand a chance.
His next attack was pointless too, though-a brutal blow designed to slice her arm left his stomach defenseless for too long, and she leaned in and would've slashed his chest open if not for his invulnerability. Instead, her knife shattered and she slipped. Only skipping a beat, she pulled a dagger out of her shoe and swung it around his body as she fell. He started and felt his one spot of weakness start to burn-she was going to hit his Achilles heel, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. She seemed to realize where her blade was heading at the same time, her eyes widening and her mouth opening as she continued to fall.
The dagger tumbled out of her hands and clattered to the ground.
She hit the ground weaponless, and he brought the tip of his sword to her throat. "You lose," he said, but he didn't feel half as mean as he sounded. Standing over this girl with a sword at her throat, it wasn't right-he quickly sheathed the weapon and walked out of the ring, even as she was still getting up.
"Winner!" Reyna crowed, and his Roman friends roared. The other two Greeks, Piper and Leo, he supposed, sat on the ground, waiting for the daughter of Athena to rejoin them.
"Big girls don't cry, Agatha," sneered Reyna as Annabeth passed her, but Annabeth gulped and sneered right back.
"You sit there like a little warrior princess," she returned, "but you would have some issues too if you knew that your precious First Praetor can't remember you either." She choked on her words.
Reyna glared at her and spoke in a low voice. "I knew you larvae were hiding him. What have you done?"
"Oh, Camp Half-Blood? We've given him a home, made friends with him, tried to get his memory back for him, and what have you and this stupid Camp Purple done for my boyfriend? You've ruined him!" Annabeth wiped at her face angrily. "This isn't the Percy I know. The real Percy is loyal, and caring, and funny! Yours is a ruthless monster. I hope you're proud." She stalked away, shoulders shaking.
"Well," said Bobby. "Looks like you scored yourself a real babe, Jackson." He thumped Percy on the back and went with the others to their next training sessions.
Percy didn't follow.
A ruthless monster? He didn't think he'd deserved that. But why else would he have gone for the kill with every attack while she dropped the dagger that could've won her the fight? And how in Hades did she know about his vulnerable spot? Was he really Greek? And did that old Metrocard pass, the one with her name on it, mean more than he'd expected? He wanted to ask her, but then again he really didn't. He was doing fine at Camp Palladium. Why'd she have to come along with all her disarming prettiness and persistent demands that he go visit some hick camp on the East Coast?
He could practically see her appear in front of him, still flushed but as beautiful as ever. She walked toward him, holding a New York Yankees cap in her hands-but he paused. She was no illusion.
"Invisibility cap," she explained before he could ask. "Handy for avoiding boyfriends who hate you." She shot him a wry look and sat down. He followed her lead.
"So you love me, then?" Percy raised an eyebrow. "For real?"
Annabeth sighed. "For my dad, it's his old fighter planes. For Chiron, it's Camp Half-Blood. For Luke, it was Thalia." She looked down at her lap. "For me, it's you. You're the love I never wanted to lose, and curse Hera herself, you're gone."
She turned her head, and a familiar lemony smell overwhelmed him for a second. He wasn't sure what most of that meant, but he did understand one thing: she didn't deserve this.
"Um...what if I'm not? Gone, I mean. What if I'm not gone?" Gods, he hadn't meant to sound so clumsy. What an idiot he was.
She put her hands on his shoulders and another wave of that lemony smell crashed over him. "Oh, come on. You've got the Romans. You've got respect, renown, rank. I mean, no, they definitely don't love you like I love you, but why would you take, in your own words, a "poor little Athena girl" over being the star of Camp Purple?" Her searching eyes stared into his own.
Percy shifted uncomfortably. "Because I think I could trust you. Because you know my vulnerable spot, but you lost rather than exposing it, something Reyna and the rest would never do." He shrugged. "Because I found something that I think should belong to you."
He reached into his pocket, pulling out that same ballpoint pen-did he remember putting it there this morning? He didn't think so-and more importantly, the tattered old Metrocard. Pointing to the message on the back, he said, "Anyone I'd share Capture the Flag strategy with would have to be pretty special." He laughed at her indignant expression. "So..." He paused. "I already know you're pretty and I already know you're good with a knife. What else should I know?"
She laughed a breathy laugh. "Well, Seaweed Brain, you should know that I'm going to kiss you right now. But I think that's good enough for today."