Edited: July 2013
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from PJO or HoO. All rights go to Rick Riordan.
Chapter 2:
Annabeth was, by all definitions of the word, not doing good. It had been three weeks since the incident at Mt. Saint Helens and Chiron had officially called off all searches for Percy Jackson. Now, Annabeth was laying on her bed, moping. If she hadn't been so stubborn her Seaweed Brain would still be at camp. He would be at the beach, sitting down at his usual spot, just staring at the ocean as if the solution to his every problem was lying there, waiting for him to find it.
But no, Annabeth had to bring Grover, Tyson, and Percy along with her to travel the labyrinth instead of sticking to the traditional two companions, and now everyone was paying the price. Although, it probably didn't affect anyone more than it did Thalia.
No one could really blame Thalia for freaking out when Annabeth had Iris Messaged her and told her the news. Thalia was-immortal hunter or not-once again the most eligible child for the prophecy. Especially since Thalia wasn't fully aware of the situation with Nico di Angelo, nor did anyone really know where said person was. Except for maybe Percy, because every problem at Camp Half-Blood somehow found a way to become his.
Suddenly the door to the Athena cabin opened, and Annabeth couldn't stop herself from looking up, hoping to see a mop of unruly black hair accompanied by bright sea green eyes staring at her. Instead, she saw Malcolm, her half-brother. Wohoo! Please note the sarcasm. Annabeth immediately turned back to her moping while Malcolm sighed.
"You know the funeral's starting right now, and that you need to go, right?" He asked softly.
"Yes and no. I'm not giving up on Percy's ability to come back to me yet. Any minute now he'll march through that door with that stupid little grin."
Malcolm sighed. His half-sister had been in denial for more than a week now. It was unhealthy for her, and it disheartened everyone in camp to see Annabeth like this. She was the backbone of the camp whether the campers realized it or not. It was already depressing enough to lose their leader, they didn't need to lose Annabeth as well. At the same time,though, Malcolm wandered if Annabeth accepting Percy's fate would make things even more difficult. He decided to dismiss the thought, and instead argue more with the Head of the Athena cabin.
"Come on, you were closest to him. Chiron wants you to give the closing statement and burn Percy's shroud. Besides, it's considered the greatest disrespect possible if the closest to a deceased doesn't attend."
Annabeth huffed at that, "Yeah, says who? Malcolm, I've read more books in here than you. Not one of them says that."
Malcolm just smirked. "Obviously you didn't read that one," he replied smugly.
His half-sister's only reply was a groan accompanied by hiding herself further into the covers of her bed. Malcolm held his ground, and patiently stood by Annabeth's bed for a few minutes. He decided to take matters into his own hands and grabbed Annabeth's arms, pulling her out of their cabin. He couldn't decided whether he should take it as a good sign that she didn't fight back.
Malcolm kept dragging her until they reached the amphitheater, where all shrouds were burned and was greeted by the sight of nearly every camper sitting around the campfire with solemn expressions on their faces. Chiron stood at the entrance with Dionysus, who at least having the decency to not look annoyed.
Once everyone was inside, Chiron opened up with the eulogy. He stayed brief, and to the point before he asked if anyone wanted to say anything. Annabeth sat in the back numbly listening to people speak. Finally, Chiron returned to the center of the amphitheater and asked Annabeth to come up and speak. She took a deep breath before walking up.
As she started to speak, she hoped she looked confident enough. She didn't like admitting her hope for Percy was useless, but as she stared at the burning campfire, she felt like he was standing close by, watching. It renewed her confidence and she looked up at the demigods around her. She was reaching the end of her speech now.
"Percy will be missed here. He was...", Annabeth had the sudden urge to look up and saw something that made her heart stop, "He's standing right there."
Chiron looked up at her, fearing that Annabeth was suffering from hallucinations. Then he looked in the direction that Annabeth was, and almost had a heart attack himself. There stood the son of Poseidon, looking like a little kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Before Chiron could really comprehend what was happening, Annabeth ran up to Percy. She looked about ready to rip her friend's head off, and Percy seemed to notice also.
"Where the Hades have you been?" Annabeth demanded.
Chiron sighed and trotted over to try and alleviate some of the tension. He pulled the demigods outside of the amphitheater so that they could discuss this.
-LINE BREAK-
During the Battle of the Labyrinth
Demigods ran towards Zeus' fist like their lives depended on it, which, if you really think about it, it did. The titan army was marching out of the labyrinth, slaughtering everyone who stood in their way. There was total chaos everywhere: trees setting on fire, nymphs screaming, monsters bursting left and right, demigods crying out in distress when a friend or sibling went down. The whole clearing was a mass of blood and golden dust.
Among the enemies was Ethan Nakamura, second-in-command for the titan army now that Kronos possessed the body of Luke Castellan. He seemed to be looking for someone, as he turned around multiple times, trying to see past all the fighting. He finally seemed to find it as his eyes landed on a single demigod. Ethan grinned devilishly, the son of Poseidon had no idea what was in store for him. The horrors that would await the teen once Luke was finished with those mortals.
He watched Percy go about trying to help as much as he could. Ethan smirked, here was his chance to gather enough evidence. Turning around, he faced a tree. He knew which nymph happened to live in this tree, and he knew how much that nymph meant to a certain satyr. Ethan pulled out a match, and lit it on fire. He was still grinning as he threw the lit match at the tree, watching it start to burn.
The reaction was instantaneous as Juniper suddenly screamed out, running to her tree. Grover Underwood, upon hearing his girlfriend's distress, immediately started running to help her. He stared in horror at Juniper's tree, trying his best to try and put out the fire. In a moment of fierce desperation, he called out to Percy, praying to the gods that the son of Poseidon would assist him.
Percy did, immediately turning his head towards his best friend. As he looked back-and-forth between Juniper's cries, the burning tree, and Grover's distressed look, he tried to decide how he was going to put out the fire. The nearest source of water was the creek, which was too far away. Suddenly, he remembered what the naiad at Triple D Ranch had told him. Taking a deep breath he tried to summon some water from within.
There was an eruption of pain in his gut as a stream of water seemed to come out of nowhere and put out the fire. Percy didn't have much time to celebrate his accomplishment, though. He was still needed by his friends, and so he turned around and started to fight again.
What Percy didn't know, was what would soon become his downfall. Why? Because Ethan now had an all-out maniacal smile on his face as he hit stop on his portable video camera. The plan would soon be finished, and there was no telling what would happen to the demigods now.
A/N: Okay, so I know I haven't updated in a while *smiles sheepishly*. Anyways, School's been crazy, I got stuck with a lot of stuff that I wasn't originally stuck with, and band had been very demanding. Other than that, I hope you guys enjoyed this, I WILL try to focus on this. Hopefully I'll be able to update more after I get over my slight writer's block. Also, WOHOOOOO! I checked the word count before I included the disclaimer and Author's Note: It was over 1,000. I also know this wasn't very canon either. Oh well. For now goodbye ;D
