Of Nightmares and Flashbacks:
Fandom: Percy Jackson
Summary: Percy can't sleep because of the nightmares from Tartarus. Can Annabeth help?
Characters: Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase
Rating: T, for mentions of loss and suffering.
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Percy thought he would finally find a time without nightmares in his life now that the war was over. Gaia was defeated, and so were the giants. But boy, was he wrong.
Tonight, he dreamt of Tartarus. One memory in particular starred in his mind tonight. Annabeth was being pulled away from him, believing he had abandoned her. That memory hurt so much on its own, but in his nightmares it was worse. The memory was changed by his nightmares to show her being dropped over the cliff they had been near at the time, lost forever.
He woke up suddenly. He hadn't gotten a good night's sleep ever since returning from Tartarus. He knew Annabeth hadn't, either. It was after curfew, but at this point, Percy was beyond caring. He needed to see Annabeth.
He arrived at the Athena cabin and climbed up to sit on the windowsill of the window above his girlfriend's bed. He saw that she was wide awake, and gently knocked on the window, so as not to wake her cabin mates, Athena's other demigod children.
When she saw him, Annabeth was startled. But she saw that he was motioning for her to follow him outside, and decided questions could be asked later. It's not like she was getting any sleep, with the Tartarus flashbacks starring in her nightmares every time she so much as closed her eyes for more than a few seconds.
She quietly slipped out and saw Percy waiting for her just outside the cabin door.
"Follow me, wise girl," Percy said in a whisper.
He lead her back to his cabin so that they wouldn't get caught talking. After they got there, he pulled her into a hug.
"I really needed to see you. The nightmares are getting worse."
"I know," she replied, "I've stopped even trying to sleep because my screams wake my siblings."
"I guess we'll have to live with them. I don't really want to talk about them, but just having you here helps." he whispered into her ear.
"Yeah," she said, "it does help to have someone who understands just be there for you."
Percy debated whether he should ask her the question he really wants to. He knew both his and her nightmares would ease, most likely. He decided to try and asked, "Do you want to stay with me tonight?"
"Yeah, that seems nice. The nightmares will probably ease." She responded.
They curled up together on Percy's bunk and drifted back to sleep together, this time with the comfort of each other's arms. The nightmares didn't return that night, for either of them.