It was a beautiful, sunny day outside, the typical weather one would experience at camp half blood, and Percy and Annabeth were on their usual morning walk to the lake. It was the best time because they basically had the crystal clear waters all to themselves. Percy's arm slid lazily around Annabeth's shoulders as he guided her along the dirt path, a smile on his face and a song in his heart. They walked in silence, which was a weird thing that Percy had gotten used to, but he had learned from Annabeth how intimate silence could be. Words didn't always have to be said.
They soon emerged through the tall grass and onto the sandy shore of the lake, which was once again desolate. Percy gently took Annabeth's hand and led her towards the water, dropping their towels on some rocks in the sand before bringing her to the edge of the water, turning to face her and taking her other hand in his own, walking in backwards while keeping his eyes on her. "It's going to be a good day," he said as the water lapped at their ankles almost playfully.
Annabeth giggled softly under her breath as she was pulled farther into the water with Percy, her eyes sparkling in the bright morning sunlight. "You say that every day."
"And every day so far has been good, hasn't it?" Percy smiled that crooked half grin, the one that made the butterflies in Annabeth's stomach go crazy.
"I suppose so…" She laughed and playfully slapped at Percy's arms as they pulled her close to his torso, his head coming down to nuzzle hers affectionately.
"Oh, come now, you know it's true." He wrapped his arms snuggly around her middle, holding her captive, pressing a loving kiss to her temple, which awarded him with another sweet giggle from her lips.
"Okay, okay, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt just this once, seaweed brain." She smiled brightly, a glint of mischief in her silvery irises, but Percy caught it just a little too late. She twisted easily out of his arms, delivering a swift kick to his ankles, bringing them out from beneath him, knocking him flat onto his back into the water with a splash.
Percy spluttered, but started laughing soon afterward, raising himself up slightly just onto his elbows, shaking the water out of his dark locks. "Come on, Annabeth, what did I do now-?" But before he could drag himself up completely out of the water, she had lowered herself over him, her legs on either side of his waist, her fingers reaching to slick back his hair from his eyes.
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." She smiled softly before placing her fingers lightly against his cheeks and guiding his lips to hers.
They were just as soft and sweet as they always were, and even though Percy always anticipated her sweet kisses, he would never be used to them. They would always bring those same butterflies in his gut, making them flutter chaotically; his heart would start to race and his fingers would begin to tremble and there would be no way to stop it.
Their kisses would always start out soft, sweet, innocent, but as the minutes went by, they would begin to become something more: fevered, intimate, desperate and everything in between. Percy's fingers would tangle in Annabeth's hair, keeping her lips within range and as soon as he was confident they would stay put, his fingers would wander elsewhere.
"Mm… Percy…." Her soft words against his lips would often send shivers down his spine and leave his heart quaking in his chest; her words gave him confidence that he was doing something right. He smiled against her lips, his lashes lightly tickling her skin as he pulled her closer, envisioning her beauty beyond the closed lids of his eyes.
"I love you, Annabeth…" These words were always sincere, and it always pleasantly squeezed his heart to receive these words in return. Her lips nipped at his sweetly at his words, feeling her smile against his skin, enjoying the silence for a short moment before hearing those words he enjoyed so much.
"And I love you… Percy Jackson…"
Except it was not Annabeth's voice that reached his ears. Percy gasped and his eyes snapped open to find not Annabeth's face hovering over his, but a monster's; its glowing eyes boring into him and its wide wicked smile showing off its full set of sharp little fangs.
Percy's natural instinct was to extend his arms, trying to shove whatever this was up and off of him, but the creature had the advantage, its legs tightening around him and her surprisingly strong scrawny arms fighting back, pinning his hands above his head. "What's the matter, demigod? Demon got your tongue?" She hissed and let off a high pitched cackle, her mouth parting wide, her needle sharp teeth glinting in the sunlight as she swiftly bent down, going for his throat…
Percy's eyes snapped open, his heart pounding frantically in his chest as he slowly acquired his bearings. A dream… only a dream, or perhaps it was better classified as a nightmare. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before opening them once more, trying to adjust his eyes to the darkness. "Annabeth…" he whispered softly in despair, as among the aches and pains in his body, his heart was what pained him the most.
He slowly started to push himself up from the stone floor as he pushed back the pain erupting within his head as well, rising to his feet. Dazed, he ran his fingers through his hair, not exactly the steadiest on his feet. His mind kept flashing back to the last time he had been conscious, watching as his mother and Annabeth drowned before his very eyes and he was powerless to do anything about it. The mere thought of it made him weak in the knees and almost sent him to the floor once more, but he powered through, trying to stay sane. Something wasn't right here…
Unfortunately, he didn't get a lot of time to think. The sudden movement of the earth below him was enough to send him to his knees, bracing himself against the rough stone floor with his hands splayed out in front of him. "Nothing to fear… nothing to fear, Percy, this is all a trick," he whispered beneath his breath, shutting his eyes tightly. Sometimes it was easier to cope with things when you didn't have to look at them…
The ground shook mercilessly and Percy's ears picked up infinite sounds around him: cracking of who knows what, a sort of bubbling, and crashing of all sorts. It sounded like the cavern was going to collapse on top of him or something…
Then, the voice was back. "Demigod, you've finally awakened. I feared I had been a little too hard on you for your first round of torture. There's no need to wear you down so much so soon."
Percy gritted his teeth and kept his eyes closed as he had no wish to see the titan he knew was in front of him. "Kronos… you will pay for what you've done..." Percy's voice was definitely not as convincing as he wished it would have been and therefore he wasn't surprised when the titan let off a booming laugh.
"Oh Percy… when are you going to learn that you cannot hurt me? Let alone defeat me. Someone always has to come around and do it for you, but as you can see, no one is here to help you now." Kronos' fist came down and hit the stone floor of the cavern with a savage punch, cracking the stone into a spider web pattern, and at the sonic crash that reached Percy's ears in the aftermath, his eyes snapped open fast enough to see blazing liquid seep up from the cracks in the floor, lighting up the face of Kronos above him.
"Oh gods…!" Percy swore and scrambled back before the molten rock could make any sort of contact with him, his eyes looking wild and frantic, lost and confused. How was any of this even possible? "Kronos you're mad! Stop this!"
A crazed cackle split the air, just like the one in his dream, sending ripples down his spine. "What's the matter Percy? Too weak to do this on your own?"
Percy's eyes tore from the lava flowing in front of him, turning swiftly to find Annabeth before him, a dagger spinning in her petite fingers as her eyes stayed on him, similarly to a hungry owl hunting a mouse. "You're… you're not Annabeth…" Percy stammered, stumbling back a couple steps as the doppelganger moved toward him, looking fierce, but her appearance of Annabeth kept throwing Percy off. He just so desperately wished to see a friendly face that he wanted to settle for this, even though he fully well knew this wasn't the real Annabeth.
The doppelganger showed him large innocent silvery eyes, its dagger held loosely in its fingertips. "What do you mean seaweed brain? Of course it's me… I thought I had lost you… but then I heard your voice in the darkness and I… I just followed it right to you."
For those split couple of seconds, her voice sounded sincere and Percy could pretend that Annabeth was here with him, ready to fight at his side like she said she'd always be. "Annabeth…" He walked toward her, his arms extended, and then she was in his arms. He pressed her tightly to his chest as tears stung the back of his eyes. He had been so afraid… afraid he'd never see her ever again. "Gods… Annabeth I thought I'd lost you…"
She fit perfectly in his arms, just like she always had, but still… something wasn't right. The hairs started to prickle at the base of his neck and his eyes slowly opened as she felt her press a sweet kiss to his cheek. "You have."
It all happened so fast. Percy was more than a little thrown off by her words and his brows furrowed in his confusion as he started to pull back from her, but before he fully could, a flash of hot pain streaked through his entire body starting at the center of his back. A scream of intense pain left his lips, the strength instantly being swiped from his legs, sending him to his knees. "A-Annabeth…" he gasped, his breathing coming hard as he felt hot liquid trickling down his back.
That cackle ripped through his eardrums again, making Percy shiver as Annabeth slowly moved onto her knees beside him, taking his face in her fingers and making him look at her. "You trust the wrong people, Percy. In fact, you can't trust anyone. They'll just end up stabbing you in the back." Her high pitched laugh slammed into him once more as she shoved him back onto the stone ground before rising to her feet, slowly cleaning off his blood from her dagger on the front of her pants.
Percy gritted his teeth, his face pressed against the cold ground, trying to wake himself up as he suddenly felt very drowsy, his vision swimming. "No…"
The doppelganger twisted sharply, looking at him with her silvery eyes, the glow of the lava around them lighting her up, making her look how she truly was, demonic. "Pardon?" She giggled and rested her hands against her hips, watching him.
"You're wrong." Percy spoke again, his face scrunched up in pain, but no matter how hard it was, he pushed it to the back of his mind and started to rise to his knees, intense anger in his eyes. "I put my trust in many people, the right people. The only mistake I made with trust was to trust you."
If Percy wasn't seeing things, he thought he saw a little surprise in the eyes of this monster, but as quick as it was there it was gone, replaced with a smirk as she started to saunter back to him with dagger in hand. "Maybe I didn't shove this thing deep enough inside of you to teach you the lesson I wanted to."
It was Percy's turn to laugh, although it was a little pitiful. He coughed and shook his head, slowly starting to rise to his feet, his hands slowly clenching into fists. "I'm not afraid of you." He took his own step toward the doppelganger, fierce determination in his eyes. "In fact, I'm not in the mood for this right now, and if you knew what was good for you, you would leave."
Once again, the doppelganger looked a little uncertain and more than a little bewildered. That demigod should not be on his feet after a wound like the one she had given him. "What could you…possibly do to me?" It laughed, but nowhere near as confidently as before. It was shaken and an amused smirk graced Percy's lips because of it.
"I'd be obliged to show you." Anger made his veins ripple from beneath his skin, his eyes seeming to glow green as the seas. He clenched his fists tightly, looked to the lava to his right and sent a silent prayer to his father. "I've never done this before dad. You're going to have to help me with this one…" He slowly raised his fists and to his surprise, the lava obeyed, moving in sync with his hands, but there was a considerable difference that he felt between controlling plain water and this lava. Water is cool and collected, soothing and healing, but this lava was spirited and full of energy, wild and dangerous… which is maybe just what he needed in this moment.
His eyes turned to the doppelganger once more whom seemed to pale as she watched the lava move towards her, her eyes wide as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. "You wouldn't hurt me… I'm… I'm your sweet Annabeth, you love me you wouldn't hurt me!" She screeched as the lava slowly surrounded her, cutting off any sort of escape.
"No. You're not my Annabeth." He gritted his teeth, closing his eyes tight in concentration as he made a swift movement with his hand, the lava obeying and crashing over the doppelganger, her screams piercing Percy's ears, making his gut twist uneasily. He swallowed hard as his fists loosened and hung at his sides, his form looking a little sunken as the adrenaline started to leave him. "I'm done playing these stupid games. I'm finding Annabeth and we're getting out of here," he spoke beneath his heavy breath, but he barely even took a step before he crumpled, falling to the stone floor as he had no more strength left. His eyes drifted closed, his limbs feeling like jelly and his back flaring with pain, but even as he was slipping away from this world once more, his mind still fought over what had to be fake and what was reality.
Yet another chapter down yay :) comment and tell me what you think I love hearing from you guys and another chapter will be coming soon.
