A/N: Hello! I'm JE and this is the last chapter of the first part of my first story. Yes, this is the last Percabeth chapter. I do plan to write many more Percabeth stories down the line and they will be featured in upcoming chapters of this story. The next part of this story will be the Jasper chapters. I have a really cool idea of where to go with it. I promise not to disappoint you guys. Shout-outs to PalmerPie for following and to Amgraupman and Shaylie-Daughter-of-Poseidon for reviewing! Also shoutouts to jadamichelle,Innoverse, Tajee165, MiraSaya, mr tempestman, Amy's Mischievous Litltle Owl,The Innocent Bystander,PandAfan1123,natilie1668, and Camyrose14 for following, faving, reviewing, my stories. Speaking of stories, go check out the new one-shots I've written after you read this. I think you'll like 'em;) Thank all of you guys for your continued support of me and my story, it all really means a lot. Shout-out to my beta Wilks for all his hard work! Alright, people. Let's do this.;)
Percy.
As the sedative took effect, Percy could see Annabeth's body relax as it transitioned itself quickly into a state of deep sleep. Her shoulders slumped, her arms and legs went entirely lax, her breathing turned from short, measured breaths to deep, full inhales through her nose and exhales through her mouth. It was odd, but Percy couldn't ever remember Annabeth snoring. She always just sounded like she was blowing out air.
"If I know this much about how she sounds when she sleeps, I'm either obsessed with her, or I've spent one too many nights staying up waiting for her to start screaming my name." Percy said to himself. Percy considered what he'd just said, causing a fierce blush to overtake his face. "Okay, wow. That came out way wrong. Gods, I'm glad she wasn't awake to hear that." Percy decided it might be best to shut up before she somehow woke up and heard him say something else he'd regret about half a second after he said it. Yeah, that'd be about right for him.
Annabeth.
As the oddly spicy-sweet liquid rushed down her throat, Annabeth felt it take effect fast. The room became dimmer and dimmer, as her eyelids became heavy as lead, and she descended into oblivion. The world around her went entirely dark for a moment, as she felt herself slip from consciousness. A half-second later, she found herself on the base of a strange, dark hill. She felt as if she had just woken up, even though she didn't recall when she had fallen asleep. In fact, she couldn't even remember how she'd got here, or anything that had led her to this place. She remembered who she was, where she was from, all the basics from her life, but she couldn't remember anything after arriving at her boyfriend's apartment a few weeks ago. And, wherever she was, it definitely wasn't a 7-floor walkup. Shaking her head, Annabeth decided she ought to focus on the problem at hand. Right now she was alone, seemingly stranded - there were no cars, streets or people in plain view - and had no idea where she was.
'I need to figure out how to solve those problems first, then focus on my memory problems. Gods. . . memory loss. Why is it always memory loss?' Annabeth quickly surveyed the area to find that the place looked oddly familiar. Although the grass was black and surely long dead, and the trees were decaying and riddled with worms and bugs, she was sure this wasn't foreign ground. As Annabeth was thinking about climbing the hill to get a better view, she noticed a dim light off in the distance, towards the hilltop. She inexplicably felt drawn to strange, glowing structure.
Annabeth began to work her way up the hill, being careful the shallow-looking patches of ground, where she was sure the soil had eroded, so as not to lose her footing. She was positive now that, whatever this place was, she knew it and knew it well. Despite this, however, as she continued to forge up the increasingly steep hill, she started to smell a putrid, sour smell wafting on the slight breeze that had begun to blow. It was dank and awful, the horrid scent assaulting her senses. It was also a smell that she had become all too familiar with over the course of her life. It was the smell of death.
Percy.
As Annabeth continued to sleep, Percy was having a lot of trouble figuring out how he was supposed to rouse her from her dream world. At first, he tried to be gentle. He tried whispering in her ear, lightly shaking her, dabbing her forehead with a wet cloth. Nothing. Then, he got a bit more aggressive.
"ANNABETH!" Percy all but shouted as he shook her forcefully. "Come on! Give me a twitch, a kick, something." No such luck.
"Oh, I'm afraid you won't make any progress that way." A smooth, almost silky voice said from behind him. Percy whipped around to find Morpheus, the god of dreams, smiling pleasantly.
Percy shouted, reaching for his sword. As he pulled out Riptide, the dream god clucked his tongue disapprovingly.
"Oh, Percy. They'll be none of that," he said, willing the sword to drop from Percy's grasp.
"What do you want?" Percy growled, remembering that, during the second Titan War, Morpheus had put all of New York to sleep in an attempt to smooth over the Titan's invasion process.
"Why, only to help, my dear boy," Morpheus replied, ignoring the obvious venom in Percy's voice.
"Why would you do that?"
"Well, in plaguing your pretty little sidekick-"
"Not my sidekick. She gets pissed if you call her that."
"Regardless, I feel giving Annabeth these dreams has tipped the balance a bit too far."
"You gave her these dreams?"
"Of course. Who else?"
Percy was livid. His hands were fisted through the bed sheets and he badly wanted to charge the dream god for putting Annabeth through all this. Then, he thought better of it. He'd promised Annabeth he'd be there when she woke up.
"Okay. Why? Why did you give her these dreams?"
"Oh, Hypnos wanted to repay Athena for those insults a few weeks back. Asked me to give her champion child a few trials of the mind."
"Trials of the mind?"
"An old Greek tradition. An Athena child is forced to confront their greatest fear by way of my nightmares. It is normally a way to prepare for a hazardous quest, but it works just well enough as a tool of vengeance. A bit brutal for my taste, but that's actually why I'm here."
"So all of this, Annabeth almost losing her mind, almost breaking down entirely, was just so Hypnos could get back at Athena?" Percy asked through gritted teeth. He knew gods could be cruel, and this wasn't the first - or last - time he would want to take out some of his anger on one of them, but this time, he wanted to tear down the gates of Olympus to find Hypnos and do a few things to him that would give the sleep god a few nightmares of his own.
"As I said, I find it a little too brutal. Tips the scale a bit too far. So, I've come to remedy the situation."
"And why, exactly, would you do that?" Percy asked, making the anger in his voice even more apparent this time. Morpheus smiled condescendingly, as if he were explaining a simple concept to a small child who refused to understand.
"Oh, Percy. I know what you might think of me, and looking back, I suppose I can understand how you could come to that conclusion, but I am not solely evil. I'm not a demon."
"Well, you're sure as Hades not an angel." Percy grumbled.
"Exactly!" Morpheus beamed as if, rather than insulting him, Percy had just completed his thought. "I'm neither. You'll notice that, while not always recognized as such, I am the God of dreams, not the God of nightmares. I represent both ends of the spectrum; light and darkness, fantasy and nightmare, happiness and sorrow. As such, when I feel that one has overtaken the other, I see to it that the balance is restored. Annabeth here has, as you put it, gone almost over the edge. I am here to help her back to solid ground."
"You mean after all this time of being her being told she had to overcome this by herself, you've had the power to help Annabeth out of all this?"
"Oh, Percy, I've always had the power to do it. I simply haven't had the authority. Though, after all Annabeth has been through, even Hypnos agrees she's had enough. I cannot stop the trial, but I help give her a cheat-sheet, if you will."
The god leaned towards the sleeping form of Annabeth and lightly touched her forehead with his index finger. It was the slightest tap, but it sent an odd wave of energy through the room, a purple ring that emanated from the spot he'd touched , all the way through the walls of the room.
"There. Try speaking to her now."
"Alright," Percy said warily. "Annabeth? Annabeth, can you hear me?" Annabeth shifted her position ever so slightly, only a little jerk of her right arm, but it was something.
"See? She will have noticed a slight disturbance in her dream. Keep speaking to her, and sooner than later I'm sure, she'll realize she is in a dream. The rest is up to her." The dream god sighed, as if he was actually saddened by their problem.
"Well, I've done all I can. Good luck, Percy Jackson. From now on, try to remember that most things are not truly good or evil, merely caught in the circumstances of their existence, and the existences of those around them. Perhaps that will help you to judge beings like myself a bit less harshly." Then, he was gone. No resounding crack!, no flash of light, just gone. As if he didn't want to wake Annabeth from her sleep.
Percy shook his head and sighed. He was still furious with the dream god, but know he was also a bit confused. But he had enough on his mind without trying to figure out what Morpheus had meant to get across with his last statement. All he cared about now was that he finally had a way to see if Annabeth was still with him. He turned back to his girlfriend's sleeping form.
"I wish you were up to explain what just happened." He said, knowing he wasn't going to get much of response. "'Cause I caught maybe half of that."
He leaned over and whispered into her ear, "Annabeth, I don't know if you can hear me, but just try to know that, whatever you think you're seeing, it isn't real. You can get past whatever is causing all this pain. I know you can. I know you can because you're the strongest person I've ever met. You'll beat this fear because you hate losing too much not to. You can get past this. I promise."
Percy felt his eyes well up, but he quickly blinked back his tears, knowing he didn't have the option to get emotional. He had to keep it together. He reached out to touch her, to place his hand on her shoulder, hoping his touch might help to pull her out of the illusion. But, as he, did, she recoiled and started to shake violently, as if she was in some intense pain. Percy drew back quickly, confused and surprised to find that she was still asleep. 'Alright. No touching her. Got it.' He'd just have to keep talking to her and hope something got through. Gods, he hoped something got through.
Annabeth.
As the winds around her picked up, Annabeth felt her hair whipping past her face as she continued up the dead, dreary hill. The stench of decay had become almost unbearable. The sour, pungent odor burned in her nostrils, threatening to knock her to her knees. She had experienced death before, living as a demigod. But the smell of it, the smell of bodies decaying, of the sickly metallic scent of blood, was one you never got used to.
Annabeth shook her head, trying to clear it of the smell. She needed to keep moving. She wasn't sure why, bit she felt that she needed to reach the top of the hill. She needed to reach the odd, glowing structure. She felt an odd tug in her stomach leading her towards the mass of dark light. As she got closer to the hill top, it felt as if the gravity was becoming more intense. Her legs ached, her shoulders slumped, she felt like she was about to fall over the closer she got to the hilltop.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she reached the top of the hill. The moment she saw what rested on it, she wished she hadn't. In that moment, it all came back to her. She knew then why the hill had seemed so naggingly familiar. It was the walkway to a place where she had always sought sanctuary. A way to one of the few places she had ever felt safe. It was Half-Blood Hill. And the place she was looking at was, or should have been, Camp Half-Blood.
Annabeth was taken aback. This was Camp Half-Blood, and yet it wasn't. The place looked deserted, the cabins in complete disrepair. No, beyond that. Disrepair implied that time had caused the damage to the structures. What had happened here; the bashed-in widows, the doors ripped off the hinges, the dried red paint splattered all over the walls - well, she tried to pretend it was red paint - this was clearly a concentrated, malicious effort. Annabeth didn't want to move any further, for fear of finding worse things than this. But then, she smelled it again. Death, decay, the smell that had almost knocked her down was far more concentrated now. . . and it was surrounding her.
Annabeth tried to move, to get away from whatever seemed to be advancing on her, but she was rooted to the ground. She felt a chill creep through her, and it felt as if her blood was now running cold. Shadows danced across the walls of the forgotten cabins like some ancient tribesmen making a sacrifice. 'A human sacrifice.' She started to scream, but it died in her throat as one of the shadows began to peel off of the wall, taking a human form. Someone she knew. Someone she'd looked up to for years, someone who had sacrificed their life to save her. She saw the face of Luke Castellan smiling at her, but he looked almost nothing like himself. His skin was a dead ashen gray, his eyes an unsettling milky white, his lips bruised and bloody. He looked just as Percy had hanging from that horrible gallows in her first nightmare. He looked dead.
"My, my, Annabeth. You sure have grown up haven't you?" Luke said with that lifeless smile on his face. He took a step closer to her to stroke her face with his fingertips. His skin was ice-cold. "You seem a bit scared. I don't know why. I'm dead, Annabeth. You should know that better than anyone."
"W-What do you mean?" Annabeth stuttered, terrified.
"Oh, honey, I think you know exactly what he means." said, much lighter, more feminine voice. Another shadowy figure appeared beside Luke. Tall, slim, perfect build, long blond hair, a dazzling, but as dead as Luke's, smile on her face. She knew this voice pretty well too. She had watched it's owner die.
"Selena?"
"That's right Annabeth." She smiled again. Again, she looked like her, but not. Gray skin, white eyes, all the same as Luke's. "And I'm not the only one's who'd like a word with you." More shadow people pulled away from the walls. All people that had been lost in the Second Titan War. Beckendorf, Michael Yew, even that kid Ethan Nakamura, the one who had aided Kronos up until the end. They all had the same dead features as Selena and Luke.
"Remember us, Annabeth?" Beckendorf asked.
"The ones you condemned to death?" Michael added.
"Even me, the guy that gave up his life to try to help you? Although, I guess that doesn't matter much to you, does it?"
"No, no." Annabeth finally managed to choke out. "I didn't kill you."
"Really?" Luke questioned. "Think about it. If you had helped me that day all those years ago in your back yard, we all might have lived through that awful war that you allowed to happen. You're lucky it's just us visiting you, Annabeth." Luke leaned closer and whispered into her ear, "You've killed hundreds."
"No, NO!", Annabeth screamed , trying to back away, to do anything to put distance between her and the abominations. They couldn't be real. Their deaths hadn't been her fault. Had they? "I didn't!"
"Oh, I'm afraid you did. Even those you didn't kill, you still couldn't save, could you? You could never be good enough, smart enough, to keep the people you supposedly cared for safe."
"Even those you weren't near when they were killed, you still managed to put them in danger." Beckendorf added grimly. "Take me. If you could've seen that the Andromeda was only half the enemy's plan, they might've diverted focus from the ship, and I might've seen my 20th birthday. Even if you never gave a damn about me, you still allowed the attack plan to go through without saying a word. Still let Percy, the person you're supposed to love, to put himself in that danger. Was it worth it, Annabeth? Worth killing me almost him to sink a ship that had no real significance in the end?"
"Speaking of Percy..." Selena tittered wickedly.
"Ah, yes. He'd like a word with you too." Luke informed her. Another strangled scream managed to escape her throat as a new figure started to appear from one of the walls. She wanted to run now more than ever, but she still felt as if her feet were cemented to the ground. Although, as the new figure was almost fully formed, she started to hear an odd buzzing in her ear. Like static, but softer. It was unintelligible by itself, but something about the tone of the buzzing was somehow familiar. She tried to focus on the sound for a moment, before realizing that the shadow figure was advancing.
He was almost completely formed now, only the smallest details remaining to be completed. Annabeth, working on instinct now, backed away quickly. While trying to get further from these whatever-they-were, she realized that she was finally moving. No longer frozen, Annabeth turned and started to run as fast as she could away from this nightmare. Nightmare. For some reason, that word clicked with her. She couldn't dwell on that, however, because she needed to keep moving. Her legs were starting to burn, and the buzz in her ear was getting, not louder, but clearer. It was starting to sound more like an actual human voice. As she ran, she began to understand parts of what the voice was saying. She caught a few tidbits . "Annabeth ... promise...strong...dream" Annabeth tried to piece together what the voice was trying to say, but she needed to keep moving.
At last, after sprinting endlessly through the place that used to be her home, she found something in the middle of all the blackness that was a bit brighter. As she got closer, the image got clearer. It was Percy. Not dead-looking , like the others, but him. Smiling, happy, waiting with a pair of open arms. It was too good to be true. She ran as fast as she could the last twenty yards or so, and crashed into him.
"Percy! Oh, gods, where are we?"
"Doesn't matter, Wise Girl. You're safe, right?"
"Yeah, for the most part. But, what's happened to camp?"
"Nothing you can do about it, Annabeth. There never was."
"Percy, what are you talking about?"
"There never was, Annabeth. No matter what, the things you love always end up gone. Nothing you can do." Percy repeated, an odd smile on his face. Annabeth stood there, confused, as she heard footsteps.
"They're coming! Percy we need to get out of here now." She whipped around to see how close they were, but saw nothing. Even the footsteps had stopped. "Percy, what the hades is goin- AHHH!" Annabeth screamed at the sight now before her. Percy had changed. He looked as all the others did. Dead.
"Percy! What's happening?"
"Nothing you can do. Nothing, nothing, nothing." Percy said repeating the word like a mantra. He was advancing. The buzzing was almost clear now it so close to a voice. Annabeth strained to hear what it was saying, to hear anything that might help her. Then she heard it. Him. Percy. The real one, the one she had grown to know since they were twelve. She heard him. And nothing had ever sounded so sweet.
"Annabeth. Listen to me. Whatever you're seeing, it's a dream. It's your dream! Take control of it. Break the fear. It doesn't own you. Don't let it try to."
Her dream? Suddenly, it all came back to her. The nightmares, the godly visits, even her taking the sedative. This was a dream. Her dream. She looked back to the Percy that was advancing on her. The illusion Hypnos had set loose on her. She took a deep breath.
"Stop." she commanded. The figure kept coming. Just think control. This is your world. "Stop!" she repeated, this time much more forcefully. The dream stopped. Annabeth felt a surge of power rush through her. For the first time in weeks, she felt a sense of stability, a feeling of power over her own life. She was in control now. And she was going to get some answers. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to picture Camp Half-Blood, as she knew it. She opened her eyes to find the camp. The sweet-smelling strawberry fields, the bright, vibrant cabins, even the grass had returned to its normal state of perpetual greenness.
The others, Luke, Selena, all of the shadow people, had vanished. Percy was still there, but he no longer looked as if he'd just been dug up from a shallow grave. He was smiling his regular, lopsided smile, not the odd, twisted one from before.
"Nice job, Wise Girl. You're almost there."
"Almost where? What do you know about all this?" Annabeth demanded, realizing that it was a stupid question. This was her dream, her mind. Dream-Percy probably knew about as much about all this as she did.
"Oh, I might know a bit more than that."
"How did you- Oh, right. This is my head, I guess you'd be able to hear my thoughts."
"You're a good guesser." Percy, she was just going to think of him as the real one until she woke up, said smiling.
"Alright, tell me. Now that I'm in here, tell me how I can get rid of these nightmares."
"Annabeth, you can't. You'll just have to get rid of what's making you so scared."
"Then what is that?" Annabeth asked. She was getting fed up with all this ambiguity. "Just tell me what I need to do. What, in the name of the Gods, is the source of these nightmares?"
"I could tell you, but you won't like the answer."
"Just tell me!"
"Well, Annabeth..." he paused. "It's me." Percy said, gesturing downward to himself.
"What?!" Annabeth couldn't be hearing this! All this, just to be told her boyfriend was her problem?
"What, for gods sakes, does that mean?"
"Think about it, Annabeth. Think about what's happened in all your dreams. This one in particular. This one was supposed to be a kind of last wake-up call. What's been said, what's happened?"
Annabeth considered this. What had kept happening? Well, Percy and/or someone else she loved died. Usually painfully. In this dream, she had been accused of killing innocents but, deep down, she knew that wasn't the real problem. As for what had been said, this was the only dream where any actual talking had occurred. What had been central, though? She thought back to anything that had been repeated, or emphasized. Beckendorf had asked 'Was it worth it?' in a way that had implied he wanted her to seriously consider it. But the last illusion, the dark Percy, had said 'Nothing you can do. Nothing, nothing, nothing.' like he was just trying to get a point across. Why was that important? The more she thought about it , the less sense it made. It was about Percy, nothing she could do, worth it. That was about it.
She tried to make the pieces fit together, to make them make sense. Percy kept dying, but there was never anything she could do about it, so , that fit. Slowly, it dawned on her. This had never been about just him. It had been about her losing him. Him dying and her never being able to stop it. Suddenly, the world around her shifted again, this time becoming a plain, dark void like the one from her first nightmare.
"Nice job, Annabeth. I knew you'd crack it. You're a smart girl." Percy said, smiling again.
"What's happening? I'm not doing this!"
"Nope. Now that you've the problem the dreams were presenting, they're unraveling."
"But I haven't solved anything yet! I've always known you can't stop death! Who doesn't know that?! Besides, if the dream is dissolved, why are you still here? You're part of the dream too."
"Yeah, but I guess Morpheus wants me around a little longer. Maybe I'm supposed to help you clear all this up."
"Great. 'Cause I could really use some help." Annabeth took a shaky breath. This whole experience had completely drained her. Physically, mentally, and emotionally. "Look, I know I might lose Percy. And there's nothing I can do about it. So what?"
"Annabeth, I know you're aware that you might lose him, but have you considered if being with him is worth it?"
"Worth it?"
"Think about it. All your life, you've been taught to approach every situation strategically. You're supposed to try to see everything two steps ahead. You know how giving yourself to someone will end, and you know that, by the end of it, you'll either be dead, or so broken you'll never be able to heal. Maybe it's just not worth it."
His last words hung in the air as he dissipated along with the rest of the dream world. Annabeth was in a state that was a mix of shock, fear, and oddly, some relief. Somehow, she sensed finality, as if this had been the last nightmare. The only puzzling thing was that, although the dream was clearly over, she was not awake. She tried to force herself awake, but that just gave her a headache. So Annabeth just stood there, trapped in some endless purgatory. After what seemed like hours, she found herself hearing that same familiar buzz in her ear.
She shot straight up, knowing that buzzing could be the beginnings of Percy trying to talk to her. She strained herself trying to hear more, until his voice came in clear.
"You know something, Wise Girl? I'm actually starting to run out of things to say. I've basically been talking for about two straight hours, and I can't think of a lot more things to talk to you about. Huh, me being tongue-tied, imagine that."
He laughed a soft, self-deprecating laugh that brought a smile to her face.
"You know, Annabeth, this actually reminds me of the time we first met. Remember that? I had just woken up from fighting the minotaur, and you told me I drooled in my sleep." Again, he laughed. Again, she smiled.
"Wow. Can you believe that, Annabeth? That here we are, seven years later? If you'd have told me that day that we'd be sharing an apartment, much less a bed, well, I would've called you crazy. Then you would've hit me for calling you crazy. You know what, I'm just gonna sit here and make horrible jokes until you wake up. So, unless you want me to unload an entire stand-up routine on you, I'd get a lot less sleepy real quick." She heard him take short breath. "Alright, Two nuns and a firefighter walk into a bar..."
Annabeth stopped paying attention after that, as a warm feeling spread through her. 'Gods, he's an idiot. ' Annabeth considered this for a moment, before remembering, 'Oh Gods, I'm in love with an idiot.' She was actually felling pretty happy about that fact as the world around her changed yet again. This time, the void that had been surrounding her began to brighten. She saw the bedroom she and Percy shared materialize around her as her eyes began to slide open, finding Percy looking down at her with a mix of confusion, joy, and relief. His eyes were, despite being as round as dinner plates, were dreary with exhaustion. His hair was even messier than usual. To her, he looked absolutely perfect.
"Hey, Seaweed Brain." He smiled wide.
"Hey, Wise Girl." Percy said in a happy, but tired voice.
"You don't seem that excited about me waking up."
"Neither do you." he said with a shrug.
"Yeah, I guess we're both kind of drained after all this, huh?"
"Guess so. I am pretty glad you're up, though." Percy admitted before putting an arm around her and kissing her forehead. They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes after that until, without looking at her, Percy asked Annabeth "So, is that it? Is it over?"
Annabeth considered that, along with what the Percy from her dream had said. She looked up at Percy, who eyes betrayed a bit of worry. She smiled at him. She'd decided that, yes, they were worth it. Having him and losing him was better than never having him period. 'In fact,' she thought to herself, 'Almost anything's better than that.' She sat up and pecked his lips. "Yeah. It's over. Now, if it's alright, I really need some sleep."
"How could you possibly want to sleep after all this?"
"Restful sleep. Tell you what. I sleep now, and tomorrow, we spend the whole day celebrating." Percy smiled.
Percy.
"Sold." He leaned over and kissed her in return. "Alright, good night Annabeth." Percy looked over at the digital clock they kept by the bed. 4:38 AM. "Or, rather, good morning." Annabeth groaned.
"You said you'd stop making bad jokes if I woke up." She reminded him.
"I love you too, Owl Head. Now go to sleep."
She pretended to swat at him as she pulled the covers over her and rested her head on a pillow. After about ten minutes, she was out like a light. Percy tried to sleep too, but found himself unable to sit still. "Freaking ADHD." Percy mumbled as he sat up, careful not to wake Annabeth and sat on the bed next to his girlfriend's sleeping form. He looked over to her and smiled. For the first time in weeks, she looked perfectly serene. Her face was worry-free and perfect. Percy was so happy this was all over.
He sat there and watched her sleep until he thought it was getting a little too creepy. So, he allowed his mind to wander when, as he sat there, wide awake at five in the morning, he found himself thinking back to what Morpheus had said at the end of their conversation. That nobody was all good or all bad, and that we were all products of the course our lives take.
As he looked over to Annabeth, still sleeping like a log, he thought maybe the dream god had it right. If he had never met Annabeth, for instance, his life would be vastly different. He might be a completely different person. Just like if Annabeth had never met Luke, or if Luke had never met Thalia, the world would be different in ways he couldn't even conceive. He remembered Annabeth telling him about a quote she really liked. 'All the world's a stage'. There was more, but he was too wiped to remember the rest. Anyway, maybe that was the way it really was. Maybe we're all just players, saying our lines and affecting the scenes that players after us preform in. Maybe, whatever the ending of life's performance was, we all helped shape it. Percy looked over at Annabeth a final time before finally going to sleep, thinking that, if you could ever trade parts, he'd hold on to his for dear life,
A/N: Finally, I got it done! I'm so sorry it took so long to update, but I'm going to start the Jasper chapters soon, so I've still got a lot of work to do on this story. I think I'm getting better at my writing, and I'm still trying really hard not to disappoint all my readers. As always, review, PM me with any story ideas(this story or otherwise) and go check out my other stories. Much love, you guys. ;)
JE out.
