A/N: Mostly fluffy and slightly AU. Percy finds his way back home and...:) Enjoy!
Annabeth Chase didn't know what she was fighting for.
Her life was full of ups and downs – mostly downs. Yet, she had never felt happiness for what it truly was until she had met that annoying, kelp-headed green-eyed boy.
She had known it when she saw him, struggling up the hill. Those sea green eyes brought her goosebumps, and she had the feeling she had found the colour she was looking for – green, just green. Green, the colour of life. Green, the colour of the grass in the meadows and the summer trees. Green, the colour of the lonely pine tree that stood on the hill. It was so green she almost forgot about Luke's piercing blue.
The last five years had been the most challenging years of her life. She would have never known anything like this before Percy. She could hardly count the many things she did, the times she suffered. But she could also hardly count how many times she had smiled the special smile she only reserved for Percy.
Five years passed quickly. Now she was no longer that the girl with the cute face, who tagged along her big brother Luke around.
Nighttime came by, and she was thankful that no tears stung her eyes. Chiron didn't really mind her sleeping at the Poseidon cabin anymore, and Poseidon or Athena were probably too bothered to be minding her sleeping arrangements. The rest of the campers used to giggle and treat her sleeping routine as gossip. She ignored it. Gossip she never really cared for anyways. There was always Percy, too, to tell those gossipers (mostly the Aphrodite cabin) to mind their own business and then laugh at his own words as if it was the biggest joke ever.
But after Percy disappeared, the Seaweed Brain, nobody laughed at her sleeping in the empty Poseidon cabin anymore. Maybe it was out of respect. Maybe it was because they could feel the emptiness in which Percy used to fill, too.
Annabeth threw on Percy's old shrunken t-shirt, the one he had joked to her about looking the best in, and her old pajama shorts, and snuggled into the quilts.
She tried to ignore the fact that Percy's side of the bed was empty.
Annabeth didn't even want to sleep. Not without Percy. The nightmares would hit in and she wouldn't survive. There was always a warm chest to snuggle into, a light kiss upon her forehead.
Her fingers clutched at her quilts, and she forced her eyes to close.
Another night without those green eyes.
She wondered how long this would continue.
Percy struggled up the hill once again, just like five years ago.
Even though, this time, there wasn't a princess curled girl waiting for him on the top of the hill, he knew that, Annabeth Chase was somewhere up there, waiting for him.
His heart yearned for the sight of her face again. To brush away the occasional strand of hair that fell into her face. To tell her those three special words over and over again. To hear her say his name. To tease her to infinity. To kiss the daylights of her. To make things as they were.
There's no guard at the gates. He wonders why, before he finds Connor Stoll in the bushes, probably haven fallen from the trees.
He smiles a little.
"Connor," he says lightly, shaking the leaf-covered guy. He says it multiple times, thankful to have seen a familiar face.
Connor groans and rubs his eyes open, before almost jumping up in shock at the sight of Percy. "Percy?"
"Who else could it be?" He grinned, watching Connor's face. "Look, are you going to bring me to Chiron or not?"
Connor shook himself out of his trance, and then started excitedly chatter and get high all of a sudden. Percy tells him not to shout out his arrival to everyone else, because it's in the dead of the night and also because he wants to make this a surprise for Annabeth (even though it's a pretty big surprise already). So Connor sighs, and brings him to Chiron.
Chiron's half-awake but seemingly happy as he tells Percy to sleep and tell him the story the next day. Percy's heading off to the Poseidon cabin before Chiron stops him.
"It might be a better choice of you chose to sleep at the Big House tonight," he says. "Annabeth might be too shocked at the sight of someone she believes gone and missing in her bed once she wakes up."
These words bring Percy a tiny smile, and he knows Chiron meant for it to do so. He tells Chiron that he would take his chances. Of course he would. He would be crazy not to.
Taking in the fresh nighttime air as he walked down the familiar path, memories flooded back to him all of a sudden. The first time he met Annabeth. Getting scolded by Silena for a dirty cabin. Winning the chariot race. The first time he rode a Pegasus. Sword-fighting lessons. Mrs. O'Leary. Kissing Annabeth in the lake…
A smile fought back onto his face again.
Opening the creaking door of the cabin (and making a mental note to fix the door sometime in the near future), his eyes quickly caught the sight of blonde curls in his pillow.
Annabeth was truly beautiful. Her hands were bunched up in the quilts, her hair carelessly spread out on the pillow. She had left Percy's side of the bed as same as it ever was – as if she had left that space just for him.
He settled himself right next to her and wondered, why in the world he deserved such an amazing girl like Annabeth Chase.
It wasn't long before Annabeth's eyelids fluttered open slowly and caught the sight of Percy's face.
"Percy?" She said, struggling to see if it was really was Percy.
He took Annabeth in his arms, and whispered in her ear:
"I'll never leave you again. Never."
Annabeth says, her voice muffled. "I love you, Percy."
"I love you" – three little words
You never have to say.
I see it written on your smile each and every day.
I hear it singing in your mind
Whenever we're alone.
And I see it deep within your eyes,
For your eyes shine in my own.
A/N: How was it? Review, please! :) The idea came to me while my mind was running off before sleep, so you can thank my awesome writing mind. :)