Hey everyone. One reviewer said that I left you all with a cliffhanger similar to Rick Riordan! Agh! I'm so sorry, dear readers! But really, four days of waitinga whole year.
Oh, Canadians, sweet, sweet Canadians. I'm sorry if my foreshadowing in the last chapter was offensive. But, you'll see why I did it. But don't act like you don't tease other nationalities, either. So let's just quit, now, eh?
Disclaimer: I do not own PJO&Co.
End A/N
Promises.
Eight little letters that mean so much.
Annabeth wasn't sure when Percy started making promises to her. Were they in New Jersey? Did they even have a quest yet?
At that moment, as Annabeth was getting nearer to the Romans, it didn't matter when they started. What mattered was the promise Percy didn't keep.
"Annabeth, I would never forget us."
"Greetings, Earthlings!" Leo said as they stepped off of the steps. His fingers were grouped into two and his eyes were crossed. Piper swiftly slapped him upside the head.
"Romans," Piper started in a strong voice. "My name is Piper, this idiot is Leo, and this is-"
"Jason!" A girl shouted, causing an uproar through the crowd.
"Reyna?" Jason called back. Within seconds, a girl jumped out of the crowd wearing a purple stola. She had brown hair and dark eyes. She regained her regal attitude. She looked and acted like a leader, breakdowns were unacceptable. But that didn't stop her face from looking pained.
"Welcome home," she said, studying his face.
"It's good to be back." He said, studying her face.
His eyes dropped from her face, disappointed. He didn't find what he was looking for, it seemed.
"Romans," Reyna called, her voice stronger than Piper's. She stepped in front of a frowning Piper. "Jason returns, with our new friends. Despite our past differences, we must unite with the Greeks to fulfill the newest Prophecy. We must accept them with open arms. They bring-"
"Never trust a Greek bearing gifts!" A tall blonde boy shouted from the crowd. Annabeth's eyes glared at the boy briefly before searching for Percy again.
"Silence, Octavian. Your outbursts aren't becoming for a boy of your position." Reyna scolded, earning a few chuckles. "No more interruptions. We must trust-"
"Annabeth!" A voice cut through the air, freezing Annabeth in place. People looked around, confused. Who could know a Greek? Their eyes seemed to say. Reyna raised an eyebrow looking a little irritated yet knowing.
People were pushed, a head kept bobbing up and down in the crowd.
"Annabeth!" She knew that voice. She knew.
The crowd broke and out came a black-haired Greek teenager.
He smiled his crooked smile and straightened his purple toga. He scratched the back of his head nervously. People gasped at his actions. Surely a leader in a purple toga didn't know a Greek.
She wanted to cry. He was alive, she knew that, but here he was. Right. In. Front. Of. Her.
He took a hesitant step forward, obvious concern, love, adoration on his face. He reached out to her.
She punched his arm.
"Wha-?" He cradled his arm. A few Romans reached for their weapons.
"Don't you know how much you worried me, Perseus Jackson?" She scolded, her voice quivering. "Couldn't you be polite for once in your life while you were up on Olympus and not insult Zeus? How many gods do you need angry with you?" She pointed her dagger at him non-threatingly."Don't you know what happens when a god doesn't like you, Percy?" She sheathed her dagger.
He dropped his arm and wiped his confused look off of his face. He smirked.
"They put your boyfriend to sleep and ship him off to Romans?" He raised his eyebrow. She snapped her head up to look at him.
She threw herself in his arms, wrapping her arms around his waist. His arms snaked around her shoulders and he put his cheek on the top of her head.
"Oh, gods, I've missed you so much." She croaked. She breathed in his scent. It was the same: the sea.
"I missed you too, Wise Girl." Percy whispered, his voice strained as well. Their arms dropped to their sides and he cupped her face in his hands. Her hands gripped his elbows.
"So what have we learned about the gods?" He asked her teasingly, his sweet breath dancing into her mouth when he chuckled.
"Just kiss me, Seaweed Brain." She smiled.
He did. Some gasped, others shuffled their feet awkwardly and Leo hooted.
Percy leaned his forehead against hers. "I love you," he said just loud enough for her to hear.
"I know," she whispered back. She was complete in that moment.
"Percy? Would you mind introducing someone?" Reyna asked, smiling a tight smile.
Percy grinned, oblivious to the tension. "Not at all." He turned towards the crowd. "Hello! As you may or may not know, I'm Percy, your praetor, and this is Annabeth Chase, my girlfriend!" He voice boomed, his smile so familiar. "As you also may or may not know, Hera or Juno, whichever tickles your fancy, has a plan for Jason, your previous leader, and me."
He let them take it in. Whispers and confusion floated through the crowd.
"-And I, Percy, and I." Annabeth corrected. She was surprised to hear herself correct him. She'd only reunited less than a minute ago. What was she thinking? Her mouth formed an 'o' and and her eyebrows were shot up to her hairline.
"Correcting me fits like a glove, doesn't it, Wise Girl?" Percy whispered.
"Yeah, something like that," she grinned back, bumping him with her hip with his. He reached for her hand.
"I never forgot, Annabeth." He said, with the solemn look he always had on when he wanted her to understand his seriousness.
Her eyes started to water, but just a little. She was lost for words. But what could she say? He and she knew.
And she was, after all, not lost anymore.
After about two-point-six seconds of trying to control those obedient Romans, Jason and Percy explained the gist of the problem. The Romans were a quiet bunch when under instruction, very much different than the Greeks, who had to suffer a certain set of brothers.
"Rome!" Some campers explained. "Why do you have to go to Rome?"
"Who are the other two?" The blonde boy, Octavian, questioned speculatively.
Jason looked at Reyna, maybe wishing one would be her, maybe not. Piper, also looked at Reyna, as if daring her to join. Annabeth and Leo simply looked at Percy, both for different reasons.
"Dude, do you have anything on underneath that?" Leo whispered, and it was clear in his voice how much it was bothering him to know the answer.
Percy blushed. "Uh-"
"Percy, who are the other two heroes?" Annabeth asked, looking up at him.
"Oh," he looked down at her, sending him a thousand thank-yous with his eyes. "Hazel, daughter of Pluto, Frankie, son of Mars, step forward."
"You know, this platform is only so big with an area of-"
"Leo." Piper said between clenched teeth.
"Yo."
"Best. Behavior. Now." She demanded using charmspeak.
"Oh, um. Sorry." He apologized. Murmurs of anger, more confusion and something about ripping open a stuffed animal, almost drowned out Leo's response.
A young girl, maybe fourteen, but with an air of maturity and an Asian boy with a look on his face only described at 'dedicated', walked and stood next to Percy.
"We, minus Reyna, are the Seven." Percy's voice silenced the crowd.
An hour later and the eight were at a table in a dark room alone. A single light hung over the rectangle table, guard dogs snarled at the Greeks at the entryway.
Annabeth sat to the right of Percy, whom was sitting at the head of the table. Jason, at the other end, was surrounded by Piper and Leo. Reyna sat next to Leo and Annabeth. Hazel and Frankie were laughing, heads bent together, across from them.
"So." Percy started, grin wide.
"So." Jason said awkwardly.
"I don't think we've met, I'm Hazel and this is Frankie, my...boyfriend." Hazel stuck her arm out to Annabeth who shook it politely.
"Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena."
"Percy has told us so much about you." Frankie grinned mischievously. He glanced at a blanched Percy.
"Oh?" Annabeth said, shifting in her seat, a twinkle in her eye just as mischievously.
"Oh, yes," Hazel giggled. "How "beautiful" and "smart" and "gorgeous" you are. And, my gods, I can't wait to see you use a dagg-"
"Ahem, Hazel. Enough. Please. Please?" Percy said pleadingly.
"Alright, alright."
"Oh, but I want to hear more, Percy." Annabeth said, folding her hands under her chin and batting her eyelashes at him. He shifted uncomfortably.
From the corner of her eye, Annabeth noticed the scowl on Reyna's face and the stony one of Piper's. Maybe acting cute with Percy at the meeting was inappropriate. And as a daughter of Athena, she should have known.
"Well." She started, sitting back and folding her hands on her lap. "I believe we should discuss the matters at hand..."
The meeting went very formal, with the occasional chuckle from Leo, Percy and Frankie. The jokes made were relieving, it was good to know even at the almost-end-of-the-world, a boy turning into an elephant is amusing.
Surely the world can't end when moments like those still exist.
Dinner was delicious. Annabeth would be the first to share this. After a week of eating one of Leo and Piper's concoctions would make dirt look delectable. But even before that, at camp, when Annabeth was without Percy, she barely ate. Who had time to eat when the Queen of the Gods kidnapped your boyfriend?
She sat back, folded her hands on her lap and sighed.
Folding my hands again, she noticed internally, is a sign of contentment. Do I feel content?
She looked over at Percy, who was laughing loudly with Frankie, and slapping a red Jason's back.
Yes, she thought, I am.
"What was that, babe?" She heard, and looked up quickly. Percy was smirking at the aforementioned joke, but his eyes held the kind of reserved look only for her.
Babe.
"Oh, I was asking what's so funny?" She covered for herself. Did she really speak out loud?
"It's nothing-" Jason started nervously, glancing at Piper on the other side of Annabeth, picking at her chicken.
"Jason is a 'prude', whatever the Pluto that is." Frankie gasped.
Percy looked at him in awe. "You're sixteen and you don't know what a 'prude' is?" He looked at Annabeth like, 'Can you believe this tool?'.
"Sorry, I'm from Canada, in which we speak normal, correct English." Frankie said, smiling shyly.
"A prude is a person too scared to do, you know, sexual things." Percy whispered, avoiding Annabeth's stare.
"I am not a prude!" Jason said a little too loudly. Some people stopped eating a looked at the table, and Reyna, at the head table, smiled to herself before picking at her food.
"Sure, you aren't, Jason." Piper mumbled at her food. One could only question if she meant something more than being conversational. She looked up, and pointed her fork at Frankie playfully. "And what does you being Canadian have to do with anything?" She locked eyes with Leo, who was grinning. The boy caught up faster than everyone thought he did.
"It was just a defense mechanism. You know, how us Canadians tease Americans. Or you guys tease us." Frankie said nonchalantly.
"Piper told Jason a Canadian will eat him." Leo said conversationally getting weird looks from everyone but Piper and Annabeth.
"You know those Laistrygonians?" Percy said, glancing at Annabeth.
"Obviously," Hazel laughed. It was a pretty, melodic laugh. The kind you'd want to make jokes just to hear.
"Well, when we were thirteen, Annabeth told me that the English word for them was Canadians..." He looked around and everyone stifled their laughs and glanced at Frankie, who looked offended.
"Americans.." He muttered. That blew it. They all burst out laughing, holding their stomachs and wiping their eyes.
A few hours later, just an hour and a half until curfew, Annabeth and Percy met up for some much-much-much needed alone time.
"How'd meeting your siblings go, 'Beth?" Percy asked, taking her hand.
She scrunched her nose. "I'm Greek, how'd you think it went? And they aren't really my siblings, you know."
He looked down at her, "Then who is?"
For a second she thought he didn't remember, but then she understood his meaning. Just because they're Roman, they are less family?
"Malcolm." She smiled up at him.
"Malcolm." Percy echoed. "How is he? Ready to pummel me?" He chuckled, shaking his head. He veered her off into the woods.
"Yeah, along with half of camp," she laughed.
He blanched. "Seriously?"
"Seriously. They're all ready to feed you to the harpies. They were always complaining, "Just wait, Annabeth, we'll get him." I'm just waiting to see who gets you first." She laughed, stretching the truth. He knew she was, but how far did she stretch it? He didn't want his family angry with him. Didn't he just save the world? Where was the gratitude?
"Well, lovebirds," A familiar voice came from the dark shadows. "I believe I take the prize then."
My name is GreyBlur !
REVIEW!
GreyLight and such was taken T.T
Here's another cliffhanger, but let's be real, will I really make you wait a whole year? Besides, context clues, readers. You should be able to figure it out!
Love,
GB