my sleeping beauty
—HypnosAnnabeth. "You are my goddess," he murmurs as she flinches.
He steals her away in a cloak of darkness, a mask of slumber, and weapons of memory.
Hypnos has been watching her for some time now—observing her from a distance, flickering in her dreams, slowly slipping the memory of Annabeth Chase from people close to her. No longer can Grover Underwood remember his first encounter with a young daughter of Athena. Percy Jackson cannot remember his first argument with his once-rival. In the Underwood, Luke Castellan watches with sad eyes while a god laughs.
And Annabeth Chase—she, for once, is aware of nothing.
.
She wakes up in a plush bed and is aware of two things: a sleeping god, and goose feathers.
Annabeth Chase's mind races a mile a minute. At first she believes that the man is Percy Jackson—but no, his skin is far less tan, muscles not quite as tense. As for the goose feathers, well, they're quite soft.
The full moon glows on her, a soft yet brilliant sort of light. "O, Mother," she chimes softly, "give me wisdom. O, goddess of the moon, give me strength."
And the man moves.
.
He summons a cup out of thin air. "Care for a drink, darling?" he asks in a melodic voice. She stares at Hypnos' hands—they are long and lean, definitely strong. Unsure of the significance of this, she looks at his face. His blue eyes and babyish face emulate a soft glow—powerful, sort of innocent, and strikingly beautiful.
Then Annabeth Chase realizes the man asked a question, and shakes her head. "I don't drink."
The man laughs—again melodic, and beautiful. "The moon is beautiful, no? Quite like you. Somehow, I am most powerful when Artemis is her at her fullest. Odd, do you think?"
Annabeth Chase stares blankly at him. "But you're not—"
"Apollo?" he laughs. "No, I am no Olympian, my dear. Do you wish for a hin—"
Her jaw drops. "Hypnos!"
"You win," grins, and swoops down to capture her lips.
.
Hypnos had assumed that the girl would push him off, reject him—however, this is not so. She simply does not react.
"Oh, goddess," he murmurs against her prominent cheekbones, "why must you act so?"
Annabeth Chase flinches.
.
"Why are you so obsessed with me?" she asks him. He laughs.
"You make my love seem rather malevolent, sweet." Annabeth Chase scowls. "I do not mean to offend you," he murmurs softly.
"Still," she says, "I had a life before you. You would take that away from me?"
Hypnos caresses her cheek, silken skin. "Of course," he states simply, "I love you."
Annabeth Chase disagrees. "If you loved me—if you really did, then you would have let me live normally. You would not have stolen me away." She starts adopting his formality easily, clearly her mother's daughter. "It was not an honorable deed."
He laughs softly then, a tinkling sort of laugh. "I have never been one for those, have I?" Hypnos starts playing with her golden curls. "No matter, I will not hurt you. Nothing will hurt you with me. Not even nightmares—never again will you be tormented so."
He thinks himself Annabeth Chase's savior. While he was studying her so meticulously, Hypnos seemed to have forgotten that no daughter of Athena will ever need one.