~DISCLAIMER~
Unfortunately, none of these characters, places, and other things of the sort belong to me. They all belong to Mr. Rick Riordan.
A/N: Hope you enjoy the chapter. I loved writing this chapter, it was quite fun! Much PERCABETH! Read responsibly.
Percy
Shortly after talking to Frank and Reyna, Percy arrived at the Big House. He glanced at the clock as he entered the rec room. 12:07. He was a tad later than he meant to be, but he doubted it mattered. He studied the people in the room.
Travis and Connor Stoll were laughing as they watched Clarisse La Rue throw a punch at a lime-haired Jennifer Fuchsia. The teenage daughter of Iris probably deserved it; Clarisse's leather armor seemed to have been magically transformed from brown to pastel violet.
On the other side of the ping-pong table Katie Gardner was shouting at Jake Mason about the continuing issue of the Hephaestus campers replacing all of her flowers with mechanical venus flytraps.
In a comfy looking armchair in the corner Will Solace and Nico di Angelo were cuddling and gazing into each others' eyes.
Annabeth glanced up from Clovis, who was—as always—passed out next to the wall. She threw Percy a grin before standing up and yelling, "Attention!"
Then in a quieter voice she added, "Everyone is here; it's time we got down to business."
Clarisse, who had Jennifer suspended against a wall, dropped the child of the rainbow goddess. Katie gave Jake one final glare before sitting down. Nico and Will both stood and turned their attention to Annabeth. Annabeth gave Clovis one final, swift kick to the side, then nodded to Percy.
Percy nodded back and began his short speech. "As you all know, two artifacts were stolen from the Bunker 9 vault some weeks ago."
A few people nodded. Mark Sheppard from the Nike cabin muttered, "Yeah . . . "
"We," Percy continued, gesturing from Leo, to Calypso, Annabeth, Nico, Jason and Piper, "have found some of the pieces to the puzzle. We even retrieved the Spear in the process.
"I'll try to be quick, but it's a lot of information. The artifacts were identified as the Sword of Erebos and the Spear of Nyx. Taryn Parkinson of Hecate shadow traveled into the vault, took the weapons, and hid them in her cabin. Earlier today we asked her how she had not sensed the tears from the shadow travel when she had investigated the vault. She turned her blade on us. Unfortunately she escaped with the sword, and we have no idea where she went.
"But we did also learn of a previously unknown demigod. A son of Khione who is working with Taryn. We learned of the group we are guessing that they work for—the Cult of Nyx.
"The Cult of Nyx has been around for millennia, but now their goals to bring Nyx to power and begin an age known as The Eternal Night are much closer to realization. One thing they need to do that though, is the Spear. If we keep that weapon out of their reach, they can't bring Nyx to power—or at least not as easily.
"We want to take the Spear to Camp Jupiter, where it will be safer and better protected."
"Why will it be safer with the Romans?" Clarisse bellowed. "Don't you trust us here?"
"Of course we trust you guys," Annabeth calmly consoled the daughter of Ares. "But only the Romans have enough resources to spare a well armed and well trained, disciplined and constant guard."
The brown haired half-blood huffed. "Fine, who's going to take the damn thing to the stupid Romans?"
"Well, since Percy and I need to get back there anyway for the fall semester at MU, we could be part of the group."
"That's not enough," Nico stated. "I'll go as well. I might be able to block attempts made by the Cult to shadow travel in and take the weapon anyway."
"If Nico goes, I do too," Will reported.
Percy nodded. "I suggest we take one more pair, two groups of three." He threw Leo a meaningful look.
Leo mumbled something. Calypso gently grasped his hand and gave a small nod to the son of the sea god.
Percy smiled as he announced that the team was assembled, but inside he wondered why Leo was so quiet. Why was the son of Hephaestus letting another talk for him? What was going on inside his head? Still, Percy had other responsibilities as well.
"We leave in two days time, September eighth," Percy announced. No-one opposed the proposition, and the meeting disbanded.
A/N: Here come the PERCABETH!
That night Percy invited Annabeth to take a walk with him on the beach. They strolled along the shore, talking about their days, complaining about various incidents among the campers, and sometimes simply ambling on in content silence.
Suddenly, Percy halted, catching Annabeth off guard. She stared bewilderedly at him and asked why they had stopped.
"I like this spot," Percy replied. "Remember after the Titan war? This is where we sat on our first 'real' date, and where we always sit to watch the fireworks."
Annabeth smiled at the memories. "Yeah," she wistfully chuckled, "I remember you tried to drop a giant ball of water on me."
"You don't have to worry about that tonight."
"Good, you would probably get hurt if you tried."
Percy nervously fiddled with the small box in his jean pocket. "Actually, I have a small question I'd like to ask you."
"Oh?" Annabeth said, raising her eyebrows as she grinned. "What's this question?"
"Well, first I want to tell you a story."
"Well then tell me a story Seaweed Brain."
"Ten years ago I arrived here at Camp Half-Blood. I was beaten, bloodied, and dragging a wounded satyr behind me. I showed up at the Big House door and immediately passed out.
"You volunteered to help me recover. When I awoke two days later, you were the one by my side. I still remember your first words to me too."
"'You drool in your sleep.'" Annabeth echoed. She was smiling ear to ear and appeared as though she was in another world.
"Exactly," Percy continued, "not the most romantic, or for that matter friendly thing, but I remember it fondly.
"Over the next few years we had enough danger to last a lifetime. We grew ever closer, and after the Titan war, we started another adventure. We started dating. We had our first kiss in a bubble in the lake.
"But we had another danger arrive soon after that, and we fought the Earth itself.
"So now, as a third danger rises, I want to start a new adventure with you. It seems only fitting to take a new step now. We became friends as the Titans rose, we became partners as the Giants clawed their way from the Earth. Now, as Nyx tries to darken our world, I say we outshine her as husband and wife."
Percy knelt before his love and presented a golden ring with an aqua diamond. "Annabeth Chase, will you marry me?"
Annabeth grinned down at Percy. "You know, Seaweed Brain, we've been engaged since we were twelve. Tossing an apple to a lady is an Ancient Greek proposal."
Percy smirked. "I guess the Fates have wanted us together for longer than we thought, huh?"
"Still, this is amazing and sweet and incredible, and I bet you already know my answer." She held out her left hand.
Percy grinned as he slipped the ring onto Annabeth's finger. In a gentlemanly voice he said, "M'lady." In a smooth motion he stood and wrapped his arms around her waist. He grinned, She grinned.
They kissed.
Percy knew it was cliché, but he couldn't help it. The woman before him was too beautiful, too dangerous, too clever, too perfect, and she was going to be his wife. Annabeth Chase, the daughter of Athena, the defeater of Arachne, his Wise Girl, was finally going to be his spouse.
Unfortunately, the kiss did not last long before being interrupted by the blowing of a giant horn. Percy and Annabeth looked up toward the forest, then back at each other. In unison they hollered, "Capture the Flag!"
They began sprinting toward the forest as quickly as they could.
Capture the Flag had become so popular in recent years that it was now held every Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday. Of course, being the counselors of their respective cabins, as well as camp leaders, Percy and Annabeth were supposed to be leading the blue team tonight. Leaders weren't supposed to be late.
They arrived ten minutes after the game had started. Travis Stoll was guarding Zeus' Fist, other demigods, from various cabins, were stationed at even intervals of about ten feet surrounding the flag's position. When the couple halted a few feet from Travis, the son of Hermes smirked at them.
"Bit late, don't'cha think?" he teased.
Annabeth—who was still catching her breath from running halfway across camp—presented Travis with a lovely view of her middle finger.
"We were—" Percy started, panting, "a bit busy."
"With what?" Travis scoffed.
Annabeth raised her left hand.
"Did she just flip me off again?"
Percy chuckled. "No, she didn't. We'll explain later."
Travis shrugged and began to explain what had happened with Percy and Annabeth gone. Five people guarded the flag; five teams of four people were sent out to patrol. Four pairs of demigods were out on the offensive. Nico and Will were one of the pairs, another included Connor Stoll and Katie Gardner.
On red team were the Zeus, Ares, Hephaestus, Iris, Aphrodite and other cabins. As a result, Travis said that the blues had chosen a more defensive strategy.
After a few seconds debate, Percy and Annabeth chose to be the fifth pair on the offensive. With their weapons readied, the couple then began to make their way toward the Reds' flag.
It took them forever, but the couple did eventually sneak past all the red guards and arrive at the clearing that held the flag. The crimson material flapped in the breeze, beckoning the demigods forward. As the two approached, however, a large bronze dragon descended from the sky and landed in front of Annabeth and Percy. Leo had spotted them from the air (which is completely unfair since that means riding a giant bronze death machine.)
Percy jumped back, hiding in the bushes. Annabeth wasn't as quick though and was soon surrounded by Leo, Calypso, Jason, and Piper.
Jason laughed. "Guess you're caught, Annabeth."
"Yeah," Annabeth replied, "guess that's what I get for being late."
Leo stared quizzically at Annabeth. "Why were you late?"
Annabeth smiled. "Percy and I went on a short date."
This piqued Piper's interest, and while the daughter of Aphrodite asked about the date, Percy made his way around the group and slowly toward the flag.
As he neared the red banner her heard Piper squeal. He turned and saw Annabeth presenting her new ring to the group.
Questions ensued from all the opposing demigods. Percy grabbed the flag.
"He talked about how we met . . . " Annabeth said. Percy made his way toward the edge of the clearing.
"He talked about how we started dating . . . " Annabeth continued. Percy reached the tree line and began to sprint.
He heard someone yell from somewhere behind him. He continued to sprint, and screamed in joy as he crossed the stream. A voice boomed, "Blue team wins!"
The son of Poseidon smiled to himself. Even though they had been late, Blue still won.
The morning of September 7th, the questing group met with Rachel Elizabeth Dare. The gift of prophecy had not yet been restored, but thanks to Ella the Harpy there was still a bit of prophecy to go on. Unfortunately, of the hundreds of prophecies that Ella had memorized from the burned Sibylline Books, only a few were full prophecies.
Today Rachel had only one scrap of paper on the table in her cave.
The redhead studied the six as they entered. She threw them all a grim look. "I found a prophecy that seems to fit pretty well," she reported.
Percy smiled as he and his friends sat down. "That's good."
"Want to see it?"
"That would be nice."
Rachel slid the sheet across to Percy. He studied the flowing cursive on the paper.
"Six shall go west to the Imperial home,
The weapon through air shall join with Rome,
Night shall be found in the waters of death,
As the pontifex—"
"It cuts off," Percy remarked.
"Yeah."
"That doesn't seem."
"Probably not."
Percy threw a worried glance to Annabeth. He knew there was nothing else Rachel could do, so he thanked the oracle and suggested the group get ready for their adventure. He thought about the missing line of the prophecy. What did it mean? As the pontifex—Jason obviously—does what?
A/N: Wasn't sure what to do after the proposal, that's like 90% of the reason why the capture the flag is there. Next: Pontifex what do you guys think? Predictions? Theories? Third: Reviews are always welcome. Please, tell me what you think.
