Fabian:
Two months and four days.
It has been that long since they found out and Annabeth was growing by the minute. Of course, it wasn't still visible but you would question her diet when you see her. The small bump in her abdomen was visible with his heightened senses and the incoherent thoughts of the baby's still forming mind took every single ounce of his attention. He needed to know more about the intelligent life form growing inside the beautiful daughter of Athena. He was curious and he has to answer his curiosity.
"How is he?" Annabeth asked as she crossed her legs to the side, her head placed lightly to Percy's chest.
She meant the child, of course. Who else would it be? "So far, he's fine. Content, I guess. He's really happy where he is and very healthy."
The gray-eyed blonde smiled a teary smile, grateful and happy. "I love you, baby." She spoke softly to her womb, stroking it lightly. "Mommy loves you."
School started a week after.
Alice was very excited when she dashed from one place to another. She has this really annoying enthusiasm at most times that it would eventually influence him too. Maybe she was only right for Jasper, seeing he always seemed as if he was in pain even when he wasn't. After all those decades that he has stayed with this family, he still found it very hard to resist the call of human blood. But he was improving.
"Come on, Fabian!" The pixie cooed, tugging relentlessly on his arms as if it were her lifeline. "Percy and Annabeth are waiting at the car."
Ally, you know I can hear you perfectly well. Just let me get my things and we'll go. He was only finding a reasonable excuse to escape, wanting time to think if going back to high school would make him feel human again. And due to his current eye color, he was forced to wear dark contacts just to make them look normal. He was sure that the students at Goode would be scared stiff whenever they would look at him.
He joined his annoying sister in his Porsche Panamera, a gift from Carlisle in replacement for the one he crashed. Even when he was irritated with the blurred eyesight, he was still able to drive fast back to New York City where the school was in less than twenty minutes. And Alice was bouncing in her seat, squealing every once in a while. Fabian knew he would regret it if he would enter her mind but he did anyways and he found out that it was because she was attending a fashion class that she chose especially for herself.
How are we going to do this? He conversed mentally towards the other three inside the car, ignoring the lustful looks that the other students were giving his car.
Annabeth spoke with clarity and eagerness, a smile on her face. We all start Senior Year with the help of Carlisle's effective persuasion and then continue from there.
"But what about you?" Fabian voiced out unnecessarily, "Are you going to ditch when you're already showing too much?"
"No. So far, education is still a priority and let them think what they want to think. I'm already old enough to be a mother and I don't care if they would start rumors."
When everything was ready, they all entered the building. The couple has been here ever since they were sophomores and they were very helpful in terms of showing the vampires their classes. Alice and Fabian quickly memorized each hallway and room that they have passed and the names of the people they have met. In the student body's minds, they have a very large impact in their society. His sister and he were no more than the people they look up to and drool over.
He didn't know if he would like it here but he was as sure as hell that he would try.
Percy:
It was odd how the Cullens have been so casual with all the looks every person they passed was giving them. Even Percy's stepfather, Paul Blofis, seemed to be interested in their obvious perfection. But he didn't mind. He was actually glad that he wasn't the center of attention anymore, not when better looking people have entered their souls.
He laughed silently at the idea. "I'll be in English when you need me." He told the others when they were done touring. "Annabeth's in Physics so it would be closer to your class, Fabian. And Alice will be closer to mine."
The vampires nodded once.
Before his girlfriend could go, though, Percy quickly held her around the waist and buried his nose to her hair, inhaling the scent of her lemon shampoo. "Don't tire yourself too much." He whispered to her ear, "And I'm only one phone call away when you need me."
He knows perfectly well that she is able to take care of herself, even in her current condition, but he needed to make sure that she understands the concept of togetherness. He was here with her in the entire thing and he didn't want to feel left out at the very least. It was wrong to underestimate Annabeth's abilities, he knows that, and he also knew that she was much better at thinking things through than he would ever be. So she would never be in trouble. Never.
The son of Poseidon made Fabian swear to keep an eye on her. And Apollo's spawn agreed easily for he has nothing better to do. At the house, he has already read all of the reference books and had them memorized in his mind. He knew every fact and every facet of every book and so he would be completely vacant when he needed.
He was ten minutes early for his class but he wasn't surprised when he saw Paul standing behind his desk, arranging notes and placing books into piles. But his stepfather noticed him quickly and flashed him a wide grin, enjoying his company and that he has finally seen him after a long time of separation. "How is she, Perce?"
"Annabeth's coping but she's perfectly taken care of. Carlisle had his eye on her from the moment the baby moved inside her." Percy chuckled lightly at the memory. "I don't think I would ever be more grateful to having such a compassionate doctor by your side."
"Well, I'm glad that you're comfortable wherever you're staying. Your mother really wishes to talk to you but she can do it over the phone."
He sat behind the chairs at the front, twitching every once in a while because of his ADHD. And every ten seconds a new student would enter, greeting Paul politely and sitting down on the seat of their liking. And soon afterwards, Katie Gardner claimed the spot beside him and started chatting aimlessly about Annabeth. And they talked about the baby without the fear of being overheard. His schoolmates wouldn't care. Not when there were new people to gossip about.
At lunch, all of his friends sat in the same table. No one minded having Alice and Fabian when they were all so very used to their presence in camp. They even built small talk with them without any fear of hurting their feelings. Because all of the questions were practical. And Alice has always been so enthusiastic even when she was already so bored with school.
"See, I knew you were good at something!" Peter, a really good friend of his from the Hephaestus cabin, suddenly exclaimed. They looked at him with confused expressions and he chuckled lightly, shaking his head.
"No, I was working on something and I just got where it's supposed to be good at." He showed us a very small gadget sitting on his palm that fidgeted at least twice every ten seconds. Annabeth actually found this very interesting that she kept on asking their friend on how specifically it worked. Ever since they finished the war with Gaea, she has grown fond of Cabin Nine's inventions and never once did Percy question her about it.
But silence came soon after.
The psychic stared blankly into space, rigidly stiff as a new vision entered her mind. It was most likely something unimportant because she didn't react negatively. And when the demigods asked about it once, she just shrugged it off, confirming his suspicion.
And so far, it has been a really good school day.
Fabian:
He didn't know whether or not to tell the famous couple about the vision.
Being the person that he is, Fabian was curious on what Alice has seen and so he entered her mind. It was quite insignificant at the moment for they were in the school cafeteria where everyone was acting so casually but it would be a very hot topic once they got home. But the son of Apollo didn't think it would be polite to just leave Percy and Annabeth in the dark like that, especially when they were what the vision was talking about.
His sister agreed to what he has said and so made a private conversation on the four of them, showing them easily what he has seen just moments ago. To his surprise, no one acted violently about it but they were actually quite surprised. They didn't think that Rachel Dare, a mere mortal, would have the strength and courage to walk to their front door and demand for information.
Fabian has never met the oracle in person but he really did want to. He was curious about how she lives her life when the spirit living inside her would just force prophecies out of her. And honestly, Alice wanted to have someone who has a power similar to hers in ways.
How are you going to tell her? He cut himself off from his thoughts to ask the important question, his eyes locked on the sea green and stormy gray orbs lost in their own little worlds. She probably has something for the child, something that would happen that Alice couldn't see.
Fear flashed through Annabeth's features, thinking of the possibilities of their child's future. It wouldn't be safe for he is the son of Poseidon and Athena's favorite and most powerful children. His scent would probably attract monsters more than his parents do. And they were afraid of that. They didn't want to put such an innocent baby in danger of dying, especially when Rosalie was going to grow attached to it. How he knew, you may ask? Well, he didn't need Alice's visions to see the future. It was already written in his sister's face.
Let's just pray that she's not going to bring bad news. But it seems very unlikely because all the oracle gives is bad news. Annabeth kicked his boyfriend in the shin under the table, making him wince once before giving her an apologetic look. Let me say that again. He paused, The Oracle of Delphi may not always bring good news but knowing Rachel, she must be going to congratulate us or something. You can't really predict someone as spontaneous as she is.
Then how are they going to do this?
Everyone turned to the direction of the pixie, expecting for an answer. But even Alice seemed lost at the moment. She hadn't seen the reason behind her visit and she was growing very anxious every passing minute. Look, let's just prepare for the worst. If something like a prophecy about the child does happen, then we'll do everything in our power not to let it happen- if ever it is bad. But if Percy is right and she just came over to congratulate, then we accept her. She sighed frustratingly, I don't like not seeing things. It makes me feel so blind.
Don't worry about it, Al. Fabian muttered towards his sister, flashing her an image of Jasper smiling widely to help her. And she actually did relax greatly over the five second time span, cursing school for being so slow. From the tone of her thoughts, she was eager to go back home and back to the arms of her husband where she is safe and loved.
"I can't believe we have to worry about the Fates again." Annabeth cried angry tears on her boyfriend's chest. "Why can't they just leave us alone? We've done so much already for them. We risked our lives more times than necessary. Why do they find entertainment in our pain?" And she fisted her hands on Percy's blue polo shirt.
Wise girl, calm down. Percy soothed her in his thoughts. You know that we can't change the life given to us and, as difficult it might be, they know we can handle it. Look, it might not even be bad. Rachel doesn't always visit because she saw something bad. She nodded numbly at his quiet reassurance, feeling for the first time the warm hands flitting lightly on her back, the other caressing her abdomen lovingly.
Fabian never really got to explain but Athena and Poseidon had given them a gift that would only work as long as their love was pure and their intentions were right. They would be able to hear the thoughts of the other and only the other. It was clear that they haven't used it before for Percy was unsure at first if she was able to hear. He just felt relieved when she reacted the way that he wanted, with silent agreement.
And so rarely has he seen two people feel like they do.
Nina:
She was debating whether or not to return to London for Senior Year.
It was a week before they were supposed to go back and she was weighing out the possibilities. Europe was too far from Fabian, when she knew that he would be studying here. Also, his friends would be staying for the entire year with few of their siblings. They wanted to have the freedom and privacy that camp would give if there were few campers.
Nina didn't find the idea very appealing though.
One reason was that since her siblings could easily blend into society without getting caught, they all have left her to fend for her own. Also, she couldn't stand repeating Junior Year just to go through graduation. She didn't want to live through Trig or Chemistry or anything. She didn't want to. Not when Fabian wasn't around to help her.
It would be their problem if they don't graduate. They would have to live through regret and guilt when they were already twenty. She was actually surprised that Mara chose to skip too, maybe because Jerome was staying.
The only rational mind in her group was Amber. Even when she would do anything to get a chance to skip an entire semester of schoolwork and book reading and essay writing, she still chose the selfless way out and decided to join her in her journey to end high school.
But they didn't move back to Anubis House.
She actually wasn't supposed to find out that her best friend has made plans to stay at a boarding school here in New York. So when Amber told her, she was very surprised. Not that she was angry at her, she was actually pretty glad that she thought of something like that when it wasn't very necessary yet. And with very few help from their parents, they managed to get in without any problem.
They headed off to pack without any disturbances, having to remember what she brought to her previous boarding school and adding other things that probably would change everything. But she honestly didn't care. Because the only thing that she could think of was that she could finally start over without worrying of seeing him again. There would be nothing to remind her of him there. She could finally forget about him.
A quick knock on the door took her out of her world.
"Are you ready to go?" the female voiced out, moving to Nina's side with a small lingering smile. "The car's waiting outside."
"Yeah, just give me five minutes." She flashed Amber a flashing grin and turned towards the luggage bag she was currently zipping up.
The blonde daughter of Aphrodite giggled knowingly before skipping outside, closing the door shut behind her as if she knew that her best friend was keeping a secret. The sad part was that Nina wasn't. And if she was, then what was the secret she was keeping?
Once she successfully closed the already too full bag, she dragged it to the Camp van driven by one of the harpies. She actually had no idea where she was heading and she'd rather not think about it now that there was no turning back. Plus, she was very glad that she could leave all of the bad things behind now. She was going to graduate high school and everything is going to be alright for once. Everything is going to be alright for once.
"It's an exclusive boarding school specifically for girls." Amber explained, "I was actually scared that they might not accept us since it's already been way past the enrollment but they knew how smart you are and how they need me for something I don't understand so here we are." She gestured outside the window and what Nina saw made her jaw fall slack.
What was she doing here?
Fabian:
As they drove towards the beautiful brick building where Renesmee was, he thought of the many things that would happen to the couple. He was afraid that their suspicions might be true and their entire life would be in danger again.
It didn't make sense why they were the ones who were to pick her up when Edward could easily buy a car for her, knowing that she could easily drive it. But he opted not to argue. It gave him time to think and talk to his favorite sister, as annoying as she is. Also, he liked having so much time to himself for his thoughts weren't so private around his mind reader of a brother.
The boarding school made arrangements that Ness was allowed to go home ever weekend and it was already a Friday. But, due to the dazzling power of being a vampire, her father got the board to allow her to exit the school when she needs to. Bella thinks it would be healthy for her child to spend a healthy amount of time with humans. And since the hybrid couldn't argue that much, she packed and left.
Jacob was already there when they arrived. He has been visiting frequently ever since the school year started and never once has he broken his record. Fabian was glad that she has at least someone to talk to when the other students chose to ignore her for they were jealous of how beautiful she is but the main reason as to why her parents brought her there in the first place was to be away from the mythical creatures.
I thought I told you to wait until I gave you the signal. He scolded the werewolf mentally with a small smirk. But since you're here, why don't you join us in the car?
Jake smiled and kissed Nessie lightly on the cheek, striding towards the Porsche. The newborn then turned his gaze towards the bronze haired girl and hugged her tightly, smiling when she returned it without hesitation. You're dad's worried about you. He thought to her, but I assured him that you were fine. Apparently, you've met a friend.
He should have at least got a warning from the girl that Nina would be here with Amber. And from her thoughts, the daughter of Hecate already knew that Renesmee is her schoolmate from day one. Until now, she was still quite bitter. She was sure that she could finally escape him to be wrong the next fifteen minutes. Fabian actually wanted to laugh at her face at this but he didn't. He would get a negative reaction from the humans, thinking that he turned crazy when he was still as sane as ever.
"I should have told you earlier, Fabian. I knew it was a bad idea for keeping it from you but…" She sighed, trailing off as she stared at the distance, to the closed window at the fourth floor. I honestly didn't know that she would be staying here.
But he just shook his head. It's not your fault. I didn't know either and I guess we can't really avoid her now that school started already.
I guess you're right. She bit her lip in anxiety before taking Fabian's outstretched hand and following him towards the car. But I'm scared that maybe I did something wrong. She placed a palm on his cheek for effect, showing him the pain that she felt when she realized that she wouldn't be able to keep this. You shouldn't be hurting this much, Fabes. You don't deserve it.
"Ness, it's alright. I'm fine." Fabian reassured her sincerely with a soft smile, "It's unavoidable. It's my fault really because if I haven't been in such bad terms with her, then you wouldn't have to worry." And I wouldn't be in this situation. He thought quietly to himself.
The moment they arrived at home, he realized that they have been gone longer than they should have. From their thoughts he could hear that his brothers were so close to start searching for them. Edward was worrying about his family's safety especially when his only daughter, his beloved daughter, was with them. And they all started asking questions that only he could answer, explaining briefly about the little problem they have encountered. Esme, of course, comforted him easily by letting him know that he wouldn't be seeing her when he didn't want to, that Alice could drive to pick Ness up.
He refused.
Fabian has been the center of everyone's concern for far too long. He couldn't let someone like Nina ruin the good mood he was in. And he couldn't believe that they would find him weak because he is unable to battle his own fears on his own. He wasn't weak. He never was weak. And he would make sure that this image of him would change. Change to something more accurate.
"I'll do what I'm supposed to and forget she existed."
Nina:
Renesmee was in most of her classes.
She was so sure that the Fates were messing with her now. Out of all the people that she was forced to be friends with, it has to be her ex-boyfriend's closest confidant. And she cried inside her bedroom every time she gets the chance. Why couldn't she just escape him? Why couldn't she have a life like the others? What is the solution to her problem? Does it have to involve suicide?
And Nina wanted no more than to kill herself right now. It was easiest way out, now that all of the pain made her feel as if she was in hell already. Was it really necessary to make her suffer?
She was silent during third period English. Her every focus was to try to keep the tears locked inside and go through the horrid day as invisible as possible. But she watched as Renesmee became the perfect Cullen everyone expected her to be- beautiful, quiet, and intelligent. And all of her other classmates envied her for what she already has. And they wanted to live her life like she does.
Nina watched as she runs out to Jacob's arms whenever he comes to visit her every single day. She watched as she embraces Fabian and talk to him as if they've known each other forever. She watched as they drive away to their own little world where everything was perfect. And she watched herself live in absolute agony.
She knows that if she ever wants to forget about him, she has to learn to face her persecutors. Even when she had absolutely no idea that she was hurting Nina more than she ever intended. And that was just because of her mere presence. She knows that if she would ever act differently to the Cullen, she would be forever ignored by the man she truly loves. And she needed to understand herself that she was no competition to him. The only people worth fighting were Patricia and Amber. They stole his heart and she was willing to steal it back.
Jacob and Renesmee were sitting on the park bench in the garden, surrounded by green grass and tall trees and beautiful flowers. As she approached, she rethought of what she was going to say, imagining herself as she was about to say it and their expected reactions. She knew that one wrong word would mean getting her hurt and she knew that physical pain would just add more to the emotional persecution.
"Jake? Ness?" she asked, her voice low and shy and innocent. "Um, can I talk to you?"
The couple looked at each other but nodded, gesturing for her to continue without a word. "Well," Nina stated, "I know it's too late but I want to ask if you want to be friends, you know, like we should have been before I turned to this person. If Fabian would see us, then it would probably make him happy again and let him forget the pain he's in." The excuse was made up but they didn't seem to mind.
"I don't know, Nina." The seventeen year old glanced nervously at the man beside her, "It's not such a good idea now when Fabian already has something to be happy about. He was just surprised to see you here too and maybe a little overwhelmed."
"But it's not just about Fabian." The brunette insisted, "I want to be friends with you, Renesmee. You're the only person who seems to understand me and who I really am. I know you won't judge me when I do something wrong because that's not you. Please. He doesn't have to know."
There was silence for an entire ten minutes. Nina was afraid that she must have ignored her last statement and was having a private conversation with Jacob but she realized that the young Cullen was thinking hard, unconsciously chewing on her bottom lip and twirling a strand of her bronze locks.
Nina knew that there were people hiding behind the many bushes or any other spot they think they couldn't be found. She honestly didn't think that her friendship with Nessie would make such a big impact on the school itself. And she was annoyed that Amber didn't do a thing to stop them from eavesdropping. She would even have cursed them into doing things embarrassing just to get back at them.
She was thinking of the many methods when Renesmee interrupted her wistful thinking, unnecessarily clearing her throat.
"I think it would be best if we aren't."