Changing Fate

A/N: Oh my Goodness! Thank-you for all the great reviews! And the people who subscribed or favorited! I love you forever. I woke up and had twelve emails saying people had subscribed or reviewed. More and more people are reading it! (^_^)I really hope my story is as good as you say it is. We're on to chapter 6 now. That went fast.

Chapter 6: Shattered Glass

"There is nothing in the world so wonderful as to be loved. And there is nothing in the world so painful as to lose the person you loved." Unknown

Percy POV

It was still warm outside but there was a slight breeze that brought some relief. The sun had not that long dipped beneath the horizon but some of its fiery orange light still illuminated the sky. The clouds glowed with a fierce orange that was quite a contrast to the background of deepening blue. Walking the streets with Annabeth, few cars passed by us. For those few minutes, with her hair reflecting the light and making her look like an angel and her eyes that were large silver disks focused on me, it seemed like nothing could ever be wrong with the world.

"Did you know about what Thalia was planning?" I asked her. She laughed.

"I read between the lines. It wasn't hard to tell. She wouldn't have put that much effort in if the party was only about the housewarming. You didn't see it?"

I laughed, "No." handsome

"You don't see much do you? It must be all the kelp stuck in the crevices of your brain."

"Hey!" I said indignantly, "You never let up do you? It doesn't matter how many times I tell you I love you, you always keep up with savage barrage of hurtful comments!"

She laughed, tossing her head back in amusement. Yep, she might look like and angel, but she had sharp tongue behind those pretty lips.

"You know you love it."

"I know I love you."

She smiled and, I was sure, somewhere in the world, a person was brought back from the brink of death just because she smiled. She had that effect on people.

We made our way down the street past apartment blocks, restaurants and shops open late. This was the quieter end of town, away from the bright lights, blaring horns and rush of people. There were little shops, rather than big department stores, small streetlights, rather than large, flashing, neon lights. People who shopped here tended to wear vintage clothes and bright colours rather that stuffy business suits and they carried cotton 'green bags' rather than leather briefcases. Despite the bubbling cafes that were full of people, the place had an aura of calmness. It seemed almost peaceful. I could see Annabeth looking in awe at the mix of architecture around us. She seemed to really appreciate all the different styles that we passed. Her eyes shined with inspiration and creativity. You could almost see the cogs whirring in her brain, the wheels spinning, the pieces fitting together. She got a faraway look in her eyes, but it suited her face all the same. She looked like she was at home in her thoughts.

We walked for a long time, leaving the restaurants behind. I just watched Annabeth the whole time. It was almost impossible to take my eyes off her. The sky had grown darker. Almost all of the sun's citrus-coloured had seeped out of it. Just as I tore my eyes away from the girl who held my hand to look up the emerging stars, we heard the screams. They sounded like somebody blowing a broken whistle, breathy, high-pitched, shrill and absolutely terrified. We rounded the corner to see a wide courtyard. It was paved with grey slate, small trees planted in raised beds at regular intervals around the perimeter. There was a raised paved platform in the middle with a birdbath. The woman who was screaming was tied to it. She was petite, with blond hair. Her arms were speckled with bruises and red welts from where the rope was rubbing. The platform was surrounded by spikes, each of them on fire with a strange purplish flame. A dark figure stood outside the circle, his back to us, for a moment I thought he was staring at the woman. Then, he moved, and I saw what he was actually paying attention to. It was a snake. It was fairly large, reaching halfway up the torso of the person it faced, though its size wasn't the weirdest thing about it. It had two heads, one on each end of it.

"Amphisbaena..." I heard Annabeth whisper, "The snake with two heads."
As we watched the figure drew a knife from within his jacket, but then seemed to decide that it was better not to and dropped it with a clatter. He ran, swiftly, from the square, exiting from the opposite side to where we stood stunned. The snake, Amphisbaena, looked around with its glowing eyes and then slithered behind one of the trees that ringed the courtyard.

"We have to help her!" I said and dashed over to the ring of wooden spikes. Each of them was set in a bucket of sand, so it wasn't hard to remove them. Once I extinguished the fire of one, all the others went out in shower of purple sparks. It was like some spell had been broken, the tension in the night air was released and it seemed quiet. I hadn't even been aware of any sound but it seemed like, once the circle of spikes was broken, the world became silent again. I didn't bother taking all the stakes out, just enough so I could get through to the woman. She whimpered as I came closer, covering her terrified eyes with her hands.
"Get away from me!" She sobbed.
"I'm not going to hurt you. We need to get you to the hospital."
After a little more coaxing, I managed to convince the woman to let me untie her. As I worked on the knots, I asked her questions about herself. She told me she was a nurse at an amnesia hospital. She had met her captor at an outpatient check-up. She wouldn't tell me what his name was, she said she was afraid that he'd come after her.

"Do you know what he wanted with you?" I asked.
"I don't..." She said, sniffling, "He was always on about this ritual to please some random Greek Titan. I never really took an interest in Greek Mythology so I didn't understand. Though I think he was psychotic so I don't really think it matters."
My heart skipped a beat. A Titan? Not again. Dealing with Kronos had been enough Titan to last a lifetime.
"Everything little thing can help identify who did this to you. I know about Greek myths and legends. The Titan, was his name Kronos?"
She shook her head, "No, I think it was a female, something starting with 'M' or 'N'..."
I didn't know about many female Titans. I had been making an effort to learn a bit more over my years at Camp Half-Blood but mostly I just left that sort of stuff to Annabeth.

"Hey, Wise-Girl, do you know of any Titanesses with names starting with 'M' or 'N'?" I called over my shoulder, wondering why Annabeth wasn't helping me untie all these knots. There was no answer. I paused, letting the rough rope drop from my hands. Had I done something to offend her? Was there a reason I was getting the silent treatment? I turned around and staggered off the platform, losing my footing in horror. Annabeth lay on the ground. The horrible snake thing, the Amphisbaena, had its scaly body wrapped it's around her neck. She was making a horrible gurgling noise and had her arms pinned to her sides by the snake. I whipped Riptide from its permanent position in my pocket and within moments there was a flash of bronze and the tiny little pen had become a full length sword. The magic of it all was so familiar I barely paused before rushing to my fiancée's aid. Hacking and slashing, fighting off the awful thing that was strangling her. I managed to get it off her, but it decided that it would probably be more fun to attack me. We circled each other, it lashing out but not landing a single blow. It wasn't the largest monster I'd ever fought, but it was strong and stubborn, I'll give the awful thing that. It had to be at least as thick as my thigh and its scales were like armour. It had razor sharp teeth that squirted acid-like venom that left a smoking hole in my jeans, luckily not burning me. It took me a few minutes to cut the head of the thing so it dissolved into dust. I pulled back from the pile of ashes, breathing heavily. I didn't spare a moment to dwell on the fight; my thoughts were immediately on Annabeth. I turned to her dropping my sword with a clatter. She was laying motionless, eyes closed, deep purple bruises already starting to form on her neck. There was a long gash on her chest where those needle-pointed teeth had raked a path through her flesh and the material of her dress. Crimson blood had soaked through the fabric making the iridescent sparkles glow with the colour of her blood. Venom had splattered up her arm, leaving behind a series of red splotches. I lifted her head and cradled it in my lap.

"Annabeth? Love, can you hear me?"

I studied her face looking for any sign of life. Her eyelids fluttered and she opened her lips to take in a shallow breath.
"P-Percy?" She whispered, not capable of speaking any louder.

"Oh, thank gods. You're not gone. I would have died of you left me."

She smiled a weak smile. I hugged her head to me and she hissed in pain. I laid her head back down on my lap gently.

"I would have died if I had to be alone, without you, you know." She whispered.

"I promise I won't ever leave you. I'll be there forever."

"Forever?"

"Forever."

Carefully, so I didn't touch her bruises, I titled her head up to mine so I could kiss her on the forehead. She closed her eyes at my touch.

"Percy…" She sighed, "As much as you know I love your kisses… I'm in quite a bit of pain here and I may or may not be bleeding to death… So, would you mind calling and ambulance? Then, I promise, you can kiss me as much as you like…"

"Oh, crap! I'm sorry, I forgot. I should have done that earlier." I scrabbled around for my cell phone. It was a new addition since we left camp, it helped me keep in touch with other half-bloods on 'the outside', as we called it. I searched the various pockets, finding the bottle of seawater from my dad, a party balloon, my wallet and then, in the back pocket of jeans, my phone. I quickly dialled the emergency operator our location. They promised to send help soon.

"Don't you worry. They'll be here to take you to hospital soon."

She sighed in relief. I wasn't sure but it sounded like, in that quiet breath of air that escaped her mouth, she had said the words: "Forever, Percy."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

It was cold in the hospital. So cold. Alarms beeped. Lights flashed. I paced back and forth, my shoes clattering on the grey linoleum. Even though it was a quarter past eleven , I was filled with nervous energy. I hadn't seen Annabeth's face since she was wheeled away in hospital bed, her body limp, and it made me worry. I kept replaying the whole day in my mind, teasing Grover about his sweater, the girls arriving home, the party, my dad giving me the bottle of seawater, walking, the strange figure that ran from the courtyard, fighting the Amphisbaena, cradling Annabeth as she bled, sitting by her in the ambulance as they took her and the blond woman to hospital and finally, being told I couldn't see her because she needed to recover. Didn't they know she'd recover better in my arms? Did they think I'd hurt her? I loved her! I couldn't help but feel explosive anger inside. I kept winding myself up, piling on more and more reasons to feel angry. My rage eventually boiled over, and I pounded my fist against a wall, earning me a strange look from an old lady nearby. I bit back crazy, resentful, exasperated tears and collapsed into one of the hard plastic chairs that lined the waiting room. I took a deep breath, desperately trying to calm myself. Annabeth wouldn't like to see me like this, she'd probably say something like,
"Seaweed Brain! What'd that wall ever do to you to deserve a battering like that?"

Someone once told me that if you concentrate on other things, anger is easily forgotten, so I tried to. I listened to the noises, the beeping, the sobbing, the dejected sighs. Somewhere down the corridor, somebody was yelling at someone else,

"This job is your second chance, Andrew! If you're two hours late for night-shift every night, you make me think you don't want this! You don't want to have another chance, is that it?"

There was a mumbled reply.

"Well then, get the hell into that Emergency Room and bring that girl back from the edge of death!"

A moment later a man no older than me came rushing through the room. He had a blue medical mask over the lower half of his face, the kind surgeons wear, a black eye patch covering one eye and a pale blue doctor's cap that looked as if it were hastily put on because wisps of dark hair were escaping all over the place. He looked vaguely familiar but his face was hard to place because it was mostly covered. I didn't quite recognise him, but his visible eye widened when he caught sight of me. There was something in that look he gave me, anger, perhaps? Or confusion? Maybe even triumph… I didn't know, but it was gone in a flash because he looked away and bolted off down the corridor. I didn't think much of it, I was too distracted. I pulled my phone from my pocket. There were no messages. I had texted Thalia to tell her about everything and tried to call over and over but she was either too busy with the party or too drunk to check her phone. I blamed Dionysus, he's the wine god, after all. I sighed and leant my head back against the wall. Sometimes everything just seemed too hard.

I watched as various people were wheeled back and forth on stretcher beds, some looking more alive than other. I watched as families wept for lost loved ones, their bodies shaking with grief. Watched as doctors carried medical equipment back to and from operating theatres, some speckled with blood. It made me feel sick, sitting in this little waiting room. I could feel it spreading slowly in my stomach, that cold sense of dread. I didn't want to be one of those people who were clutching onto others like they were lifelines, sobbing their love's name over and over. I watched everything with an odd sense of detachment, like none of this applied to me. But somewhere, in the back of my mind, I knew it did. I just didn't want to believe it quite yet. Maybe minutes passed, maybe hours, I didn't really care anymore. All that mattered was seeing her face with those honest gray eyes, ringed with golden curls. So calm, so intelligent, so beautiful. All I could do was wait. And wait. And wait. A door banged somewhere in the building. The young doctor who had given me the strange look before rushed into the room. I stood up, hoping he had news.

"Where is she?" I demanded.

"Uh-"

"What's happened? What did you do?"

"Well… she had many injuries-"

"She'd okay, though, right? I could walk right into that hospital room and she'd sit up and smile, right?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Jackson. Annabeth Chase is dead."

There it was. As he said that one sentence, I saw my life fall around my feet. I wondered if any of the distraught families could hear the sound of the broken pieces hitting the ground like broken glass. I would have clutched onto someone and cried hysterically, but there was no one. I was alone. Completely and utterly alone.

Awww, poor Percy. *Sob*

Did you like that chapter? Can you see the pieces coming together? I know it was a little dark and quite depressing but some parts were a little light-hearted, don't you think? Don't worry! Annabeth's death is most definitely not the end of Changing Fate. I still have, like, 15+ chapters planned. Please let me know your thoughts! I really appreciate it!

Happy New Year! *Pew! Pew! (Fireworks)*

Bye

P.S. Sorry if there are a few typos. I'm using a different computer and the keyboard is all funny. It doesn't like me. ):