Yeah, yeah. I know I've been AWOL for way too long now. But now I'm back, and I promise I'm working on my other stories as well. :)
Countdown
7.
It was there in his limp. No wounds, no blood, no scars. It wasn't traceable, but it was there in Percy Jackson. There was no more spring in his step; each step of his was a broken hiccup with neither beginning nor end. He would always have his lazy, slow smile, but with each passing day the smile grew tighter and colder and smaller.
Annabeth too felt the days begin to number.
6.
Annabeth's hair was always as bright as the sun, but with age came the dulling of her hair. Day by day, glints of gray sneaked into her yellow, dotting the sky like ash raining. And after so many days, it was the yellow that was untraceable, preserved only by the ghost of his memory.
Soon came the day Percy Jackson could no longer see her as young.
5.
His writing hand had never given him cramps before; he never wrote or read enough for that to happen. But his hand would seize up, capturing him in painfully vulnerable moments, leaving him with no thought but pain and not much else. Percy did have a stint where he tried to switch to being a lefty, but that didn't really work out for him. The only pen he ever had — Anaklusmos — would always fail him.
Annabeth couldn't believe her eyes the day he couldn't lift his own sword.
4.
Annabeth hardly ever used her invisibility cap anymore, not when it wasn't needed. It was funny how the cap had come to symbolize her in battle, and without it, she had become sedentary. There were days when she would take out the cap, and fondly stare at it and remember the good days. Annabeth didn't mind, of course, but it had taken a toll on her body. She was no longer thin and fit and strong. Her metabolism had failed her.
There were days when Percy Jackson seriously considered burning that cap.
3.
His eyes had remained the same bright green all his life, but he couldn't see as well anymore. Percy would often look in the mirror and feel not as much see the strain of life. Eyes that shouldn't have become cloudy and hazy and dare he say old but somehow had. There were days Percy could even read his digital clock from more than 20 paces away without squinting.
Annabeth had to try so hard to pretend she loved him more with glasses.
2.
His heart beat too fast and too loudly and too weakly. It was bound to fail him one of these days.
1.
It finally did.
Thanks for reading!