Quest for Happiness


II

.PERCY.

Percy stood outside the Pomerian lines, watching the beautiful city of New Rome from just outside its limits.

His hands deep in his pockets, the Greek demigod stood back as the setting sun bathed the city in a golden hue. It was such a stunning sight that Percy immediately felt a sense of completeness at arriving home, again. Many people lived in one place all their lives, some moved around a lot, but when a place gave you a sense of unconditional belonging, then that was definitely home.

It was odd that from his very first visit to New Rome – even without his memory intact and inhabiting a life filled with a personal dissonance – Percy had imagined making his home right here.

The tiled roofs and gold domes gleamed welcomingly at him, honeysuckle and roses permeated the air surrounding the City's limits, all making Percy want to get closer to his destination. He closed his green eyes and tilted his strong chin out so he could simply revel in that moment of coming home, returning, for good this time.

With his heart light and happy after a very long time, his lungs craving more, Percy walked forwards. He came across the muscular life sized statue of Terminus.

The handless God of boundaries irritated scowl was still present on his carved face, though his stone lids remained closed, Terminus did not miss a beat.

"You're back." The statue grunted without opening its marble made eyes.

Percy grinned. As much as Terminus pretended that Percy annoyed him, like all the other two handed legionnaires did, Percy knew better. The dark haired Greek demigod had long since earned Terminus' respect. More so after Percy and the God had killed Polybotes together when the ugly giant had broke Terminus' body and crossed the Pomerian line with weapons in tow.

"It's good to see you, Terminus." Percy said without any sarcasm or humour. Even seeing the God of boundaries – and Percy didn't think too much of limits and restrictions – pleased him. Therefore he held back any comments about offering Terminus a handshake in greeting.

Terminus grunted and then cracked one eye open to peek at Percy. "You've cut your hair. Good." One of the very first things Terminus had ordered Percy to do was cut his hair and wear pants above the ankles. After looking at Percy, Terminus looked a little less annoyed to be awoken. "And shorter pants. Mmm, your weapon?"

Percy took out Riptide from his right pocket and showed it to Terminus with a grin, before dropping it without argument into the God's tray.

With a satisfied grunt, not liking anyone who argued with his rules, Terminus gruffly said, "Good to see you back. She'll be pleased."

With a green eyed wink, Percy walked into New Rome. Reyna might not be as pleased as Terminus thought she would be to see him. Percy had not given the Roman Praetor a time of arrival and Reyna was not one for surprises. Percy had not wanted a fuss to be made over his return though. He had simply wanted time to come home and take in everything by himself. It was just something he felt like doing.

Percy walked passed a few chariots going down the street, loving the feel of the cobbled earth beneath his sneakers again. The warm air beat down on his skin and he took the familiar route to his villa. As if he hadn't been gone for seven years.

He hadn't bothered with bringing over any personal items as he did not feel up to being encumbered with luggage on his first day back. Also, Reyna had assured him that all his old stuff was still at his place. Percy was touched that they had maintained the place for him all these years.

Everyone had constantly told him he would always have a home to come back to. Whether it was his mom and Paul's, Camp Half-Blood or New Rome, Percy would forever belong. Only it was heartening to know that his Roman counterparts had actually kept a place for him. Not like a house that was only there because he was the son of Poseidon, but a regular home that was simply just for him. It was a concept Percy wondered if people would understand, but it was the way he felt nonetheless.

Percy and Annabeth had arrived at Camp Jupiter after they had graduated high school, and instead of being made to live with all the other demigods at camp, they had been honorarily allowed to reside in New Rome. The council had been so overwhelmed with Percy and Annabeth's accomplishments in defeating Gaea, that it was easy to forget about it being their blood which had awoken the Earth Mother in the first place.

Percy spun the key ring around his index finger as he stepped towards the wooden door of his villa. The white marble and red roof already filling him with comfort and familiarity. Percy missed the sounds of Mrs O'Leary's barks and her shaggy bulldozer frame coming to welcome him home upon arrival. He wondered if she'd be willing to leave Camp Half-Blood again now that he was back in New Rome. He took in a deep breath and slotted in his key.

Once his foot crossed the threshold Percy immediately swelled with the feeling of belonging. For all the painful memories the place held, no other building had ever given him this sense of rightness before. Admittedly, he had not yet pinpointed why exactly that was.

Percy turned around to shut the door, humming softly to fill in the empty darkness that he had stepped through as he knew the moment he switched on the lights, he would come face to face with everything that he had left behind.

Percy quietened and inhaled deeply, a familiar lemony scent still lingered around the place. Just before Percy could turn around, his head was clubbed forward with such force that his forehead thudded against the door like a brass knocker. His eyes rolled back as he lost consciousness before he felt his descent to meet hard floor.


Percy slowly lifted heavy eyelids and his vision was slightly blurred as he tried to focus on his surroundings. The soft dips of cushion, moulding to his body nicely, keeping him comfortable, did nothing to hasten his consciousness into returning to full working mode.

He blinked a few times to rid himself of his spotty vision and the first thing he noticed was the familiar inwards curve of the ceiling, held with lined pillars. He was back in New Rome. Percy remembered the hit over his head, the throbbing pain at the back of his skull belatedly confirming his thoughts, and he immediately shot up from lying down.

"Whoa." Percy's head turned around as small hands pushed back at his shoulders. The pain that immediately laced through his head told him that that hadn't been the wisest thing to do. A zesty lemon scent wafted trough his nostrils.

Percy's eyes immediately became more focused as Annabeth's grey eyes widened in concern before him. Percy resisted her pushing and gently wrapped his hand around her wrist, making sure she was really there and he hadn't hit his head so hard that he was now hallucinating.

"Annabeth?" His voice was groggy and if he wasn't seeing things, he really hoped he hadn't been drooling in front of Annabeth while unconscious – again. Then something clicked back into place in Percy's aching head and his brain started to function properly again. "You hit me?" He queried in disbelief.

He watched as Annabeth gently placed a dainty palm on his hand, unwrapping his fingers from around her wrist and sending a trail of warmth up his arm as she did so. Percy straightened and noticed that he was sitting on a couch. The very same couch that had sat in his lounge from seven years ago. Reaching behind him, Percy felt for the lump that he was sure his head would be sporting.

"I'm so sorry, Percy. I didn't know what to expect since it's the first time someone's broke in." Annabeth said uneasily.

"I had a key. I did not break in." Percy complained.

"I really am sorry, Percy." She did sound very apologetic, and considering she didn't apologise easily, Percy knew she was being sincere.

"Why though?" Percy could not completely keep the irritation from his voice as Annabeth came to stand above him, pressing something cold against his head. "What are you even doing here?"

Annabeth didn't answer him but Percy felt her hands momentarily still against his head from previously rubbing soothing circles around his lump. After a brief moment, she continued her gentle ministrations and Percy closed his eyes again. Allowing himself a soft groan of satisfaction he let Annabeth continue with her task at hand.

Feeling Annabeth's hand jerk against his head Percy's eyes shot opened. He moved away from Annabeth so he could look over at her properly. "Thanks." He said, extending a hand for the ice cloth she was holding.

She nodded her blonde head, the lights above them making it look like she was wearing a halo. Annabeth placed the cloth in his hands and Percy did not fail to notice that she made an effort to keep her fingers from brushing against his.

She shuffled from one bear foot to the other, tugging her small sleeping shirt lower over the creamy expanse of midriff Percy had not realised had been visible until then. Annabeth then smoothed down her short shorts and Percy couldn't help but follow the action, down to her long and shapely legs. He looked away and moved further down the sofa, motioning with his head for her to sit down. All her awkwardness was making his ADHD worse.

The last thing Percy wanted her to feel was uncomfortable around him. He just wanted them to move forward from their past. Even if not as friends, but as two people who accepted that they would always be apart of the others' life.

Percy used Annabeth's silence to look around the home they had once made their own. They had been advised against moving in together after school, warned against the decision by many well intentioned people. However, lots of college students lived together, was what they had said. They were friends, Percy and Annabeth were a couple, what could go wrong? Only everything.

Refusing to dwell on the moments that had turned his safe haven into a bitter place, Percy's eyes swept around the dimly lit lounge he was in. The same fire grate stood at one end, the very same shell shaped lamps stood at the corners they had always stood in, dancing soft light across the large white rug at the centre of the rounded room. The carpet hadn't changed either, and neither had all the furniture.

There were more photo frames now, he noticed, and odd bits and bobs added around as if collected through the years. Percy's dark head whipped around as his thoughts sunk in, his sea green eyes resting on Annabeth. His gaze roamed over her clothing before settling on her blanched face. He knew the moment that their eyes met, that his thoughts were right.

Forgetting that he was a grown man Percy stuttered like a twelve year old boy. "You … you're …" Flinching at how lame he sounded, Percy took in a deep breath and stared at her. "You're still living here?"

He knew that was the only possible explanation, yet Annabeth's confirming nod made Percy rear away from her in complete shock.

"Whoa." He said as he ran a hand through his hair, trying to digest that bit of information as best he could in such short notice. He then turned to look back at her. He wasn't sure exactly what he should say to that. He had never thought that she would come back. Not after confessing how much she had hated it here. "Why?" He couldn't help but ask, after everything she had said, put them through, he needed to know.

Annabeth looked at her hands on her lap. Percy could hear the cogs in her brain working, ordering her thoughts neatly before she spoke, and it annoyed him.

"Jason asked me to help him with the designs for the temples he promised to build for all the minor Gods and Goddesses. Piper and he were having some issues about how much travel he was doing, going back and forth. It became a little difficult with her motivational speaking and all the travelling she herself was doing. They kept missing each other a lot of the times when she was at Camp Half-Blood. It started to take a strain on them." Annabeth explained, only then looking up at Percy. "Since this place was still ou– … available, it made more sense for me to oversee things here so Jason didn't have to do all that much of moving. That's how we started Graceful A, you know."

"I'm aware of most of that, Annabeth. I just didn't know you would, you know, chose to live here of all places." Percy stared intently at her.

She shrugged her slight shoulders. "I'm surprised not one of our friends mentioned it to you. Not even Reyna or Frank?" Annabeth asked with a slight frown.

"No." Percy shook his head, his eyes still focused on her lovely face. Reyna had only told him that the place was being maintained and that he could return anytime he wanted to. He really did need to have a talk with all his friends.

"Well, I guess they didn't want to bring it up." Annabeth reasoned. "Or you never thought to ask." She bit her lip then and Percy knew she had not meant to blurt those bitter words out.

Percy glared at her and was pleased to see her cheeks pinken. "I asked, Annabeth." He contradicted. "Of course I asked about how you were." He released his anger at her words through a sigh, wondering if that's how she really felt, as if he hadn't cared at all.

"Oh." Was apparently all she could manage.

"I guess where you were living never came up, since I just assumed that you would go back to Camp Half-Blood"

"I did." Annabeth replied.

Percy looked at her for a long while. "Jason and Piper weren't all you came back here for, was it?"

She had never lied to him before. Annabeth may have chosen not to tell him things in the beginning, for how independent and prideful she was, but she had never, not once, lied to him.

It was a huge comfort after everything they had been through and Percy was glad that he knew he could always count on Annabeth for honesty. She would always be truthful with him. Even if it hurt them both in the end.

"No." She agreed softly, avoiding his eyes. Then she sprang up from the couch as if she couldn't sit still for another second. "But it doesn't matter any longer." She made to walk away but Percy instinctively caught her wrist.

She whipped around to glare at him; blonde hair flying all around her menacing face and Percy couldn't help but smile in that moment. Seeing a feisty, fiery Annabeth again, grey eyes narrowed and full, pink lips pursed, made something inside of him spring to life in that deadened cavity where his heart used to be.

"It matters to me." Percy stood too, not releasing her hand as he continued to hold it between them. Annabeth didn't move. Percy looked down at her, her grey eyes stormy. "Gods, Annabeth, after everything that's happened, you came back here when even I couldn't do it. Why? How?"

She bit her bottom lip again and Percy had to fight hard against the want to brush the pouty flesh free from her teeth. Yet he didn't think she would appreciate such an intimate gesture from him and he knew that it would be highly inappropriate for him to do so. He was no longer her boyfriend, her lover.

"I … " Annabeth looked away from him, shifting her weight from one foot to another, moving a stray lock of blonde hair from her rosy cheek with her free hand as she obviously struggled to find the right words. She looked down pointedly at his fingers around her wrist and Percy realised that her fist was clenched so tightly her knuckles had gone white. He immediately dropped her hand, his fingers flexing of their own accord, as if rebuking his release on her.

Giving her some time, as well as himself, to recollect her thoughts, Percy turned around to look at the pictures on the mantelpiece above their fireplace. With his back to Annabeth, he missed the way she exhaled heavily and quickly squeezed her beautiful grey eyes shut.

Percy looked at the photo of the seven members of the Argo II, the heroes who had been apart of a prophecy that would be remembered for decades to come, forever captured in one moment of time. It had been a happier period in their lives. After Gaea's defeat and Leo's return, that picture had been a celebration of their lives, after everything they had been through.

Percy picked up the shiny metal frame and smiled reminiscently as he saw his arm had been slung around Annabeth's shoulders. They had been looking at each other as if they couldn't get enough of one another, laughing at a ridiculous joke Leo had made, sharing the joy with their friends but also something only between them both as well.

Feeling uncomfortable with his thoughts, Percy gently placed the frame back down and turned to look at Annabeth. She watched him with sad eyes, as if she knew exactly what he was thinking.

"I wanted to come back because I didn't want to blame myself for everything." She blurted out. "After you left and hadn't replied to my letter, I wanted to blame everything on you, be angry at you for leaving. It allowed me to hold on to my pride. I had come back, I had stayed."

Percy grit his teeth at that. He was frustrated that Annabeth would still try to hold onto her pride after everything her very pride had ruined. He was angry that she would come back just to place all the guilt on him. However, he was also torn at feeling as if he had abandoned her. Because she was right, he had left. Left her.

If he had stayed, if he hadn't gone gallivanting all around America, and she had returned, would they have worked things out? Percy mentally shook his head. He refused to think of that now, not only was it useless to do so, but because he also knew that he had left to give Annabeth and himself the time and space to heal, without continuously being bombarded with the feelings of pain being around each other would undoubtedly bring forth.

Yet through the years, as he had examined his decisions more closely, Percy had realised that his actions hadn't been all that selfless. He hadn't been able to handle being around Annabeth and not being with her at the time. Everything had changed so fast and so dramatically that he didn't know how to handle it. Any of it. The feelings of drowning had been too overwhelming to deal with.

"I never read your letter." Percy decided to start with that. He flinched when her eyes flew to his. Like roiling grey clouds he could see the hurt thundering all around them as tears welled there like rain. "We were already too far gone and I couldn't bear to open it. Seeing your words etched on paper would have just complicated things. Either way."

"You left." Annabeth did not leave the accusation out from her voice.

Percy's lips thinned. "I did." He agreed. "Overlooking that you left first – "

"You told me to leave." Annabeth interrupted and Percy felt his anger blaze.

"I'm not going to argue about the past, and neither do I want to play the blame game with you." Percy said irritably and Annabeth flushed, yet her eyes glared steel daggers at him. He ignored it.

"You're right." She blinked back her tears and anger at once. "We shouldn't even talk about it, it was a long time ago and it's over now. We've moved on from it."

"Have we?" Percy asked honestly. "We've moved forward, yes, but have we managed to really leave those miserable parts of our lives behind us? When I do come home, the instant animosity we radiate towards each other makes it difficult to be around one another. We didn't deserve that and neither did our friends, who were feeling like they were stuck in the middle of our mess."

Percy could see that Annabeth was weighing his words, truth dawning on her. After a long pause she finally answered. "You're right." She whispered in admittance but Percy was able to hear her nonetheless.

"Exactly. It's just another thing that we both were too stubborn to see; choosing to believe that moving on without each other, would also mean us shedding everything we went through. Seeing you yesterday, after all these years, made me realise that there was still this rift between us. I don't like it." Percy said simply.

Annabeth listened intently, silently, and so he continued. "I left because I couldn't be around you when I knew we were over. I couldn't accept it or handle it, but you left and a part of me was glad. Relieved. We had been hurting each other for months but it had felt longer. I left because even though a part of me was reprieved, the rest of me couldn't handle you being gone. Stuck in between that damn rock and hard place, not knowing what else to do to help us, I left." Percy admitted. He didn't want to be hurtful or blunt, but the time for beating around the bush had long since passed.

"I was too. Relieved." Annabeth responded as if figuring his honesty deserved hers as well.

He wasn't necessary glad that they had felt the same way, as those emotions represented dark and bitter feelings, yet he was grateful that they could empathise with each other now. Something they hadn't been able to do during their toughest times together.

Percy nodded though. "Yeah, it was a mess that we never expected, wasn't prepared for. However, as time went by and I heard that you were fine, I decided that maybe the break was doing us good. I tried to find myself then, focus on me and what I wanted for a while. For so long it seemed like I wasn't in control of my life that I went overboard with trying to change that after Gaea. I definitely didn't want to be a control freak forever, that was never who I was."

"I shouldn't have said that, Percy." Annabeth winced apologetically as she was reminded of some of the harsh things she had fired at Percy during one of their many arguments.

"You were right though." Percy argued with a wry smile. "I tried to control everything we did because for the first time since I could remember, I could choose my own path, forge my own way. Coupled with my dumb fatal flaw, always wanting to help everyone, I didn't stop to think that you wanted different things than I did."

Annabeth stayed silent for a long while and Percy became uncomfortable with everything he had admitted now, as if it was hanging above their heads like a deadly monster. Yet the sense of relief he was starting to feel, as if his windpipes were clearing, was enough to tell him that he was doing the right thing.

"I should have opened up more to you. I shouldn't have pushed you away like that." Annabeth sighed in self depreciation.

"No." Percy said quickly as he closed the gap between Annabeth and him in a few long legged strides. He held her arms so she would look up at him. Staring honestly into her eyes, "We're not going to play the blame game with each other any longer. Or with ourselves for that matter." Percy told her determinedly. "Okay?"

Annabeth had come from a complicated past. Her father had not seen her as a blessing, a gift carried by the west wind Zephyr, as she was meant to be received. He had tried to send her back to Athena who Annabeth felt she had already been discarded by.

After Frederick Chase had married and fathered two sons, Annabeth had only felt more outcasted, less wanted. She had run away from home at seven. Ever since then she had grown to take care of herself. The few people she had relied on had let her down. Thalia had died, Luke had sold his soul for power and she had been alone once more.

She had tried to lean on Percy, but he had wanted more. More of her and she hadn't been ready to give him that at the time. Dealing with all that had happened during Gaea's awakening and after, had not made it easier for them. They had been teenagers and no one should have had to recover from what they had gone through.

Their problems had brought out the worst in them. Not having worked through their personal issues first had caused an inability to leave behind their own desires and work together as one. Somewhere along the line they had drifted from being in sync, forgetting that they were a couple and had to deal with things together.

Anger and blame at each other for not fulfilling the others expectations had seeped through their relationship like thick acid. Slowly the bitterness had then turned in on themselves, making them loathe themselves for not being able to live up to the expectations of the other. It had been unhealthy and it only made sense that something had to give.

Annabeth nodded with a watery smile. "Did you have to be such a nice guy? I was doing fine with being angry at you."

Percy chuckled softly, rubbing his hands up her arms; he gripped her face in his palms. "I think the time to be angry is over. What do you say?"

She nodded her agreement and he couldn't help it, he pulled her in for a bone crushing hug. It had been so long since he had held her like that. Yet her back arched into him, her feet lifted so she was standing on her toes and her arms wound so tightly around his neck that it felt like he had never stopped holding her. Percy buried his nose in her blonde her and inhaled the all too familiar scent of Annabeth.

Not wanting things to turn awkward after their emotionally charged conversation, Percy released her slowly and took a step back. "It's been a long day. You should get some rest. I'll sleep in the guest room, if that's alright with you, and then talk to Reyna or Frank in the morning."

She gave him one of her knowing smiles and nodded. "Good night, Percy."

"Good night, Annabeth."


.ANNABETH.

Pale grey eyes fluttered opened softly as sunlight tried to make its way into the room, which was already hosting the soft sounds of birds chirping from outside.

Annabeth yawned loudly as she adjusted to being awake again. She stretched like a lazy cat before pushing her loose hair from around her face and walked towards her French windows. Spreading the flimsy drapes apart, she gazed outside at another beautiful day. She did so enjoy summer.

She sent her morning prayer of thanks and gratitude up to her mother. With a rueful smile, Annabeth thought how far she had come to finally not feel any resentment towards the Goddess Athena.

When she had been young, Annabeth had harboured much anger and even some amounts of loathing for her mother and the situation the Goddess of wisdom had put her through. Yet with time and experience Annabeth had learned to understand more, overcoming all her negative feelings for the woman who had given her life.

Annabeth bit her bottom lip in thought as she wrapped her arms around herself. After the initial bout of tossing and turning when she had returned to her bed last night, analysing everything that Percy and she had discussed together, Annabeth had slept like a baby.

She had not been haunted by those dreams of her past, the ones that had become worse than seeing monsters or her life flashing before her in a dangerous situation. In fact, all her dreams had probably been so insignificant that she had forgotten about every single one of them. Annabeth narrowed her eyes as she became further lost in thought.

Closing her eyes she still saw Percy's handsome face behind the darkness of her lids, only now, it wasn't marred with pain and sorrow. He had also seemed more like himself compared to the last time they had met or even yesterday at Jason and Piper's wedding.

There was still a certain amount of … enigma that surrounded him though. His startling green eyes were not as easy to read as they used to be and his poker face was cultivated very well, concealing emotions easily now. Although, there was also a sense of unburdening that had taken place here last night – where everything had escalated and resulted in their separation – and Annabeth couldn't help but feel like maybe, just maybe, she and Percy had finally come full circle.

She inhaled deeply and upon exhaling, she felt as if she were emotionally expelling all the heartache she had carried around for so long. Annabeth was certain that she and Percy could never go back to what they used to be, but if she finally let go and began to heal, then they could at least learn how to be friends again.

She had missed him.

His love for all foods blue, his sarcastic humour, the glint in those sea green eyes lashed with ridiculously long, black lashes that were unfair for a man to possess, his mischievous smirk, his fearless attitude and even his belief that enough daring and determination could solve anything. Percy's emotions had always prevailed over his logic, but that had always been motivating and encouraging to Annabeth.

Annabeth would look at Percy and take courage and draw strength from him, with her own touch of realism that kept him from going overboard. She hated that eventually, the very things she had loved about him, had become like criticism on the way she always handled things with calm, logic and rationalism. And while their differences had initially been what kept them balanced, somehow, somewhere it had rocked their worlds apart.

Sighing, Annabeth opened her eyes and decided not to focus on the past any longer. It was already over and done with and she couldn't change a single second of it. Percy had been right, carrying all that pain, anger and resentment around, only made her biter and held her back from truly moving forward.

"Seaweed Brain." She muttered fondly as she thought how much he had grown and matured now. Not just physically, but apparently, emotionally and mentally as well.

She liked this new change in him. Annabeth thought as she went down the hall to her bathroom, preparing for her day ahead. She didn't know what Percy had been up to while he had been gone because talking about him with their friends had hurt too much. They had respected and cared about her enough not to force the issue after her initial stubbornness and keeping tight lipped about what had happened between her and Percy. Now though, she felt like she could finally ask those questions she had showed so much of restraint in avoiding.

When she walked past the guest bedroom, the wooden door slightly ajar, Annabeth realised that she could ask Percy himself those questions now. She wondered if there was any discomfort at having Percy back with her but she could feel none.

Annabeth had come here to prove a point to herself and Percy, yet she had ended up growing to love the place that she had been so bitter to move to. She had resented Percy for being able to give up Camp Half-Blood so easily when it had been the only true home she had ever known, for him already feeling a sense of belonging here when she hadn't.

Annabeth had felt left behind, scared and even a little insecure. Her nightmares had not made those doubts any better and though she had tried to act brave, she had not wanted to rely on Percy for fear of him abandoning her like her mother the Goddess, her father for his wife and sons, Thalia who had died, Luke for choosing evil. All her life, that was what Annabeth had been accustomed to.

Only she knew that losing Percy would be a billion times worse because of how much she felt for him. The love Annabeth had had for him superseded every single emotion she felt for anyone else. It was a scary thing to deal with for Annabeth.

Percy had not had it easy either, but he had always had the security and unconditional love of his mother. The woman who had made him blue food and married a horrible man simply to keep Percy protected.

Annabeth had assumed she had overcome her old abandonment issues, but apparently they had still been there. Gaea had made sure they had all resurfaced. Falling for Percy, caring for him the way she had, had petrified Annabeth beyond reason and logic.

For the very first time, she had been thinking and reasoning solely with her heart and she had been overwhelmed by it. When Hera had taken Percy away from her after only four months of being with him, Annabeth had suffered from withdrawal and depression.

"Annoying woman." Hera was still Annabeth's least favourite Goddess.

It had been only the purpose of finding Percy that had kept Annabeth sane. She could not imagine what would have happened if she had lost Percy forever. Her dreams after being blind in Tartarus had not made matters easier and Annabeth had become to passionately hate the way she felt about Percy. So much so that she had tried to revert to the old her. The girl who didn't need anyone.

Percy hadn't wanted a thirteen year old Annabeth though. He had wanted the strong demigod he had fell for, the girl who was secure in herself and in him, but she couldn't give him that, because she hadn't felt that way any longer.

Annabeth had let him down and knowing that had only fuelled her pride and anger at herself. Every inner struggle she had fought with herself, she had projected ten fold onto him.

She wished Percy had read all of that in the letter she had sent him. Annabeth had subconsciously prayed for his return, for his understanding, but consciously berated herself, telling herself that she deserved him turning his back on her because she wasn't worthy of him.

Annabeth turned away from Percy's door. Moments ago she had been done with all her negativity form the past, but simply thinking about it resurfaced so much of all her past pain and fear. In the end, she had still lost him. However, it had been her pride and purpose again that had kept her alive. That and she had known that Percy was not in danger. In a way it had also been her own personal punishment for her part in their sorrowful break up.

She stepped into her shower, imagining herself washing away all those demons of old that haunted her. Annabeth reminded herself that she had let go, that she wasn't that person anymore.

She had finally learned to let go of all the old hurt. Resentment at her mother, father, stepmother, the envy over her brothers, the guilt over Luke. That should have been something she had done as soon as Luke had sacrificed himself to kill Kronos, but she had been so thankful that Percy had been alive and safe, the Titan war over, that she had focused everything she had had on Percy.

Then he had been taken away from her for months and with all the Gaea madness, Annabeth had never really let go of anything, rather she had carried more and more of those treacherous emotions within herself.

Last night she had finally had the opportunity to talk to Percy, to say some of the things that she had held in for so long. Not only that, but he had understood her. He didn't hate her for it. He had forgiven her. A part of Annabeth had always been more hurt over the belief that Percy hated her for what they had been through, but now that she knew he didn't, she felt a million times lighter.

And she had finally told him that she had not meant the things she had said to him in the heat of the moment, because she really hadn't. Annabeth had always guilted and tormented herself for using her sharp tongue against Percy. She knew she would have never forgiven herself if the last things she had ever said to him were unkind – especially since they were never true.

More importantly, Percy had finally confided in her why he had left, still thinking about her in the end, concerned over her well being and Annabeth had listened. Not resenting his selflessness or selfishness at all.

Annabeth grabbed her messy handbag; various files and an apple from the breakfast counter as she made her way to work. With one last lingering look at the door to the guest room, Annabeth found that she was glad that he was back. If not for anything else but for finally being able to bury their past.

"Welcome home, Seaweed Brain."


Author's Note: I went back and fixed glaring errors in the first chapter – which I sincerely apologise for! – and while I'm not making any excuses, I beta my own work which doesn't work out so well as I'm sure you can tell, but I also wrote the first chapter in one day. Anyway, hopefully this is up to scratch. Let me know what you think ...

As much as I love to create drama in my stories, I'm trying to play around, with what I think, would be more realistic issues that Percy and Annabeth would have had to face after BoO, hopefully keeping it as close to canon as possible, with some details on everyone else weaved around my favourite couple.