Chapter 33: Love Happens at the Doors of Death

HAHA SEE WHAT I DID THERE?! No? Okay… fine… HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Here's my present for you guys! I'm thankful for life! For all those stuff! For having such wonderful fanfic buddies! Family! Friends! EVEN ENEMIES! (yeah I'm talking about you Gaia, cause without you we would never get to witness Percabeth that much!) But yeah be thankful guys! There's lot of people out there who have much more shitty lives than us!

So…. I'M NOT DEAD YAY! But I probably will be soon…..

How long has it been? A while? Well Marching Band is over to me, it's been a great season! Anyways enough about my life! How are you guys doing? (okay man that just sounds awkward) ignore me I'm probably getting rusty here on fanfic since I haven't been reading anything at all, my internet network has been slow for a while…

Anyways sorry this took so long, it's because I completely forgot where I was in the story, I mean I remember sipples and sipples of this and that but yeah from where I was… I completely forgot. So here's a little rememory thing for you guys, uhh… Percy got engaged to Rachel, Percy and Annabeth went to San Francisco, Percy finally meets his real sister Emily… and yeah! I'm a horrible person I admit!

Anyways replies review (quick one) cause it's thanksgiving and I'm suppose to be asleep at this time XD

-Thanks to those who told me about MoA, so I was scared for the cliffhanger… but SERIOUSLY DID NOT EXPECT THAT! That alone made me sad for almost a week (and I'm not the type of person to get sad easily!)

Anonymous12345: haha and I don't go to any of those schools, I actually go to school at Evergreen (the high school not college XD but nah don't worry it didn't sound that stalkerish

mdeltoro13: Yep, this story is a bit more complex, but to be honest reason for all that.. it's because I never really plan out my story to begin with I just write when I feel like writing most of the times (probably explains for most of the mistakes and slip I often do) but I agree I do tend to either exaggerate within the story or just skip through a lot. But thanks! I'll try to fix that!

Disclaimer:

Percy's POV:

Surprisingly, by the time I got back to New York, Rachel's dad had already planned everything for the wedding. According to Rachel, the moment he saw the ring on her finger, he was the first one to call up all the contacts information about dresses, cakes, restaurant, and all those complicated wedding stuff. So in a little less than a week time, we had pretty much everything to throw a wedding this Saturday. All we needed was to say the date and invitations would be send out and Rachel and I would be happily married.

Needless to say, I was pretty stressed out about everything. From having half a mind to go yell at Mr. Dare to something as simple as whether or not I should be wearing a blue or green tie. Let's just say I was a huge wreck.

Both Rachel and I have told Mr. Dare countless times that we were planning on just taking things slowly and not stress about the wedding as much, but every time, we would get the same exact answer. "Nonsense, you two are getting older, it's good to get settled down with a good family." However it was obvious he was more interested in the collaboration between my dad's company and his own because he would always add in, "Of course, there's the business collaboration to look forward too, but it's mostly about you kids."

How he said that with genuine sincerity? I'll probably never know. All I know, is that Mr. Dare and my father, Poseidon have been working together a lot for the past couple weeks for our wedding. Most of the time, I feel like I don't even have a say in this. There are those times I don't even feel like talking about the wedding, it's all about how much I have to be with Rachel, not about how I want to be with Rachel.

"Stressing about the wedding again?" A voice said from in front of me.

I lifted my head up from the screen of my computer, "Nico?"

"The one and only." He replied as he sat down on a chair in my office. "So, your wedding is pretty much the cover story for the next issue of People's magazine, how are you feeling about that?"

I sighed as I placed my head down, "Horrible." I admitted. "Maybe it's just me… but to be honest, I'm having hesitations man." It was true, I'm hesitating a lot, and I'm not even doing the wedding plans. There was something stopping me and it doesn't help that every time I tell Annabeth about my wedding plans with Rachel there is an empty feeling in the pits of my stomach. Then there's that sort of happy feeling that just seems to be missing when I'm with Rachel.

"About the wedding? Or about Rachel?"

I shook my head, "I don't know, that's the problem." I sighed and put my head down as I stared at a framed picture of Annabeth and I in California. Let's just say I felt my spirit being lifted just a bit as I remember the fun we had in California. "So what's the occasion for dropping by today?"

"Investigation crisis." Nico answered.

I raised an eyebrow, "For?" I knew from when I had gotten back to New York, Nico had been working nonstop on the case regarding my accident and he have proven many times that the accident is totally not an accident at all.

"Identity of the person with code name Pallas." Nico informed me. To be honest, I have no idea who is this Pallas, Nico had never bothered telling me the history about where he got the name Pallas. All he told me was that person was somehow involve with the accident.

"Pallas… why would anyone want to be named Pallas?"

"It's a codename," Nico repeated for the millionth time and took out a folder with a picture inside. He placed it on my table and all I saw was a blurry picture. "She's-"

"Pallas is a girl?"

"Not the point here Perce…" Nico mumbled. "Thanks to the amazing ability of your fake sister-" My ears perked up as he mentioned of Annabeth. "-we were able to find a blurry picture of Pallas and that picture alone proves that he or she was working in the middle of an important project. This simply means that this Kronos group was planning to use that project as a bargaining chip."

"Wait, what does Annabeth have to do with all of this?" I asked feeling a bit worried.

Nico shrugged, "Honestly I'm not sure, but we thought for a moment Pallas might've been Annabeth-"

"But Annabeth is not- she spend all of her time in California, there is no way she's Pallas!" I said going a bit crazy now more than ever. Maybe those guys from so long ago that attacked Annabeth at her school wasn't just after her because of me, maybe it was because-

"Percy calm down for a moment, I didn't say Annabeth is a high leveled intelligent agent or anything so you could relax." Nico assured me. "I'm just stating that we thought she was, but we're almost ninety-nine sure that Annabeth has nothing to do with this case what-so-ever."

"What about the other one percent?"

Nico shot me a look before continuing, "Anyways, topic off your fake sister for a while… Pallas have been inactive for at least four years by now, which meant he or she have stopped all their secret operations around the time you got into the accident."

"So? When I got my accident, lots of thing happened." I told him with a shrug. "There was the terrorist attack on some hotel and probably other things I've never even heard of."

"True…" Nico looked like he wanted to say more but stopped himself. "But Pallas was considered as a threat to the Kronos group, and since your accident was directly involved…" Nico let that thought hung in the air. "Anyways, I dug into the old records of your car accident but oddly enough there is a request to keep the identity of the other passenger's name a secret."

"Don't you have some sort of secret password to bypass all those request?" I asked him.

"Yes, but we're working on getting everything process-"

"What is there to process?"

"Paperwork of course. It could take days, even weeks, to get enough information from other countries." Nico explained.

"Woah, other countries? When have my life involve other countries?" I asked, wanting nothing more than to crawl under my desk and hide like a little kid.

"Since you were a wanted child terrorist." Nico mumbled. "But even with all those information, there is no guaranteed that we would be able to wrap up this case about the identity of the dead driver."

"Then what's the point of all this? Why can't you just let all this cool down? Maybe this Kronos group don't even exist anymore, maybe they've been long dead!" I exploded. "There's no result and all I'm doing is getting people around me hurt, you included Nico." I scolded him. "You may be much more knowledgeable than me, but after Bianca's death-"

I stopped as I saw the dangerous gleam in Nico's eye as if he's debating whether or not to tear me into shards. "I don't care what happens, I'm finishing this case no matter what. There is no way I'm leaving this case unfinished." He said with full seriousness in his voice. "Either you can choose to make it easier for me or just don't bother with me. I'm going to find those people who killed Silena and Beckendorf and you're not going to stop me."

Nico… how should I say this? He has a tendency to hold really deep grudges, of course it was never a problem when he was a younger kid with a carefree smile but ever since Bianca's death, he held on grudges as if they were his life. There are times when Nico can be so relaxed and calm, but there are those rare time that he's just unimaginably scary that I never want to cross him at all. Let's just say, this is one of those times…

"That's not what I'm saying," I sighed in frustration. "I may not fully support whatever your doing, but I didn't mean to stop you from doing anything. I'm just-" I flattered not really knowing what to say. "I'm just stress out." I admitted as Nico seem to calm down a slight bit.

True enough, I was stressed about the wedding, but there was something else. Normally I would be perfectly fine with settling down with a family, but lately, ever since I got back to San Francisco…

Nico stood up from the chair and adjusted his eyes to a picture on my desk, "When did you start decorating your office with pictures?" He picked up the picture of Annabeth and I in California.

I blinked, "What? Oh that, I don't know. Just a little office decoration to lighten this place up. Why?"

Nico shook his head, "Nothing," He sighed as if thinking. "Grover is back, we're thinking of having a guys' night. He just got in yesterday with Juniper, their eco- project was a success in Hawaii." Nico added as he walked towards the door.

"Nico," I called out to him as he had his hand on the doorknob. "You're en expert at relationship right?"

"Announce it to the world will you?" He mumbled sarcastically, but turned his attention back to me. "What? Is Rachel planning on leaving you again?"

I shook my head, "No that's not it, I just feel like I'm forced to get married. Pressured it more of a correct term."

"Well you got nothing to worry about," Nico supplied. "Most engaged couple have to worry about money, which you and Rachel have plenty of. Then of course there's the family stuff which seems to be in good hands since Mr. Dare seems happy with you now. So what is there to worry about?"

I shrugged, "Just doesn't seem right." I admitted. It felt like there were two forces in my head and only one of them was right… problem: I don't know which one.

"And Percy?"

"Hmm…?"

"It's next week." Nico said grimly.

I looked at him in confusion, "What's next week?"

"The anniversary date of their engagement and death." Nico told me.

I stared down at the papers on my desk. For years, I've avoided this topic, I couldn't bring myself to go to their grave site. "I'm going to skip out this year." I mumbled quietly. Even with all the convincing Nico did to tell me that I was not responsible, I couldn't help but feel guilty for their death. Sure, ever since last year, I've gotten better and actually could say their name in a complete sentence, but actually visiting them in their death site… I still couldn't do that.

"You mean just like how you do every year." Nico added with a knowing look. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. "In case you had forgotten the place they were buried, here's the address." He placed the half sheet of paper on my desk.

I clenched my fist, "I'm not going."

Nico sighed, "I'm not going to saying anything about your choice, but just reconsider it." With that said, Nico closed my office door behind him and left me alone with my own thoughts.

~PAGEBREAK~

"Everything is done for the wedding!" Rachel sighed happily as she crashed on her couch.

"Now it's just the wedding day." I said trying to sound enthusiastic.

"You don't sound very happy," Rachel noticed as she sat up straight.

"It's just work…" I trailed off as I sat down on the couch next to her. I wanted to mention the wedding hesitation to her too, but there was something stopping me. I wasn't sure what exactly but regarding with the wedding there was another variable to my troubles and it's not just Rachel. I wanted to mention about the grave visit that Nico told me, but I just couldn't bring myself too. Usually in the past, I could've told Rachel everything, but now…

"Percy, we're going to be married soon. I know you well enough to know it's not work." Rachel countered.

'I don't want to get married.' I wanted to say. 'I'm not sure about my feelings anymore. Your dad rushing the wedding didn't help. I wanted to take things slowly Rachel. Maybe I wanted to marry you, but something changed. My feelings for you isn't as deep as before… there's another person that-' I shook my head. I wanted to say all those things, but I just couldn't bring myself too.

I tried for a smile, "It's nothing, it's just the work stress," I told her as I put on a believable smile.

Usually Rachel could tell whether or not I'm pretending, whether it was that she didn't notice, or she forgot how the edge of my lips are pressed down whenever I lie, but she didn't press me after that. "So the wedding plans then? We already went through with the pictures and everything. The registration of marriage can be taken care of next week…"

I started to zone out, my brain no longer entirely focus on the wedding. For most of the time, it seems Rachel is more in love with the wedding than she is in love with me. "Rachel," I started to interrupt her as she listed out the wedding plans.

She raised her head up, "Hmm?"

"Do you love me?"

Rachel stared at me as if I had asked the silliest question in the word, "Of course I do, if I didn't why would I be marrying you." She said giving me a light peck on the cheek before going back to the guest list.

I knew that was the problem … Rachel may love me, but I wasn't sure that I returned the feeling. I had thought loving just meant the connection between Rachel and I, but then I came to realize that I felt the same way with Rachel as I did with any of my other friends. I couldn't help but think, 'Maybe the feeling between Rachel and I isn't love at all? Could it be that I just couldn't seem to let go of the past?'

But I did… I let go of the care for Rachel a long time ago. The care I felt for Rachel was replaced with the love for another person. The other person…

I shook my head, 'Wedding stress…' I convinced myself, but even then I wasn't even sure.

Annabeth's POV:

I walked out of my class and as usual Luke was there with his fencing equipments, "Wow, you're not the last one out today!" Luke grinned as he stuffed his equipments into his duffle bag.

"Surprised?" I let out a slight smile. I don't know why, but ever since the dinner party weeks ago, I've been wary of Luke. He didn't say anything about what happened then, and I wasn't going to be tempted to press him for information consider how he acted when I asked him a couple weeks ago.

"More or less." He shrugged as he offered to hold my books. "But it's the last day, I expected you to be a bit reluctant to leave that classroom."

"I was tempted to camp in there for the summer." I joked sarcastically.

"So where are you headed then?" He threw his duffle bag over his shoulder and walked beside me as we headed towards the dorms.

"Towards Piper's dorm, she need some help with packing." I told him.

"Should we meet up somewhere for the summer? Some of my friends are probably going to the beach in a few days, care to join us?" He offered.

"I'm not particularly sure yet, I might have to return back to San Francisco to visit my own family." I answered as we came upon the familiar corridors of the dorms.

"Well maybe I'll be boarding the same plane and we'll have a little reunion at the airport again." He grinned.

"Chances of that happening is almost zero."

"It happened before, who's to say it wouldn't happen again?" He grinned. "You want to go somewhere after you finish packing with Piper?"

"Actually, I have to return my friend's truck back to her before she sues me of car kidnapping." I laughed.

"Car kidnapping," He laughed. "That's probably the lamest phrase I've ever heard you say."

"Come on, like you could come up with anything better." I retorted back.

"True that," He took a turn towards Piper's dorm. "Just call me up when you want to hang out, I'm pretty much doing nothing during this long break." He smiled before giving me back my books. "Plus I have to treat you to all those times you watched my match."

I smiled back at him, "I'll hold you accountable for that," I told him before he waved goodbye and left in his car.

By the time I made it to Piper's dorm, the door was widely opened and inside there were clothes scattered across the floor. "Woah, looks like a hurricane swept through here." I remarked as I threw a pile of clothes on her bed.

"Oh good, you're here." The brunette girl turned around with a smile on her face. "Do you mind dropping me off somewhere?"

"What makes you think I have my car with me?"

"Thalia told me you did. Jason was suppose to pick me up, but then he'd missed his flight." Piper shook her head. "So Thalia told me that you have pretty much nothing to do-"

"I have work Piper." I reminded her.

"I'm pretty sure Percy won't mind, he's probably too stressed about his wedding to even think of anything else." Piper supplied as she zipped up her luggage. Piper looked up at the watch on the wall, "Oh no, I'm late! Ahh! My mom is going to kill me!"

"Late for…?"

Piper didn't even bother explaining, instead she just dragged the big bag of luggage down, "DONE! Are you done?"

"Been waiting over five minutes now." I said impatiently as she handed me the directions. "Okay, let's go then Ms. McLean."

"Annabeth…. Seriously, quit it with the last name." Piper warned me.

"Yes Ms. McLean." I grinned before opening the car door.

~PAGEBREAK~

"A cemetery? You were screaming at me to drive quickly to go to a cemetery?"

"There's a funeral going on, well anniversary of a funeral that is." Piper supplied. "You don't have to go, just sit out here, I'm just going to see my sister."

"Your sister? This is the first I've heard of it."

"Half-sister." Piper corrected herself. "And unlike you missy, this is actually my real half-sister."

"No need to rub it in." I mumbled as I turned off the engine. "So who's this sister of yours?"

"Silena-" Piper answered as I suddenly have a tingling memory of hearing that name somewhere. "- she's the one lying in the casket… so no you can't meet her."

"I didn't know-"

"It's okay, we were never that close since I only met her a couple times through one of my mother's sisterly bonding trip, but she was nicer than anyone else in my mom's family." Piper shook her head. "Anyways, just wait here for a little while, I'll be right back."

With that she left me alone in the car with her luggage and a few bottles of water to keep my company. Maybe it was weird, but I realized that there was not just only Piper visiting but a few others as well. I couldn't see them very well from afar but I could tell there was a crowd down there. Whoever this sister was, she was pretty popular.

Silena… for some reason it sounds vaguely familiar. I stared out of the window, for a cemetery sight, the place looked rather happy. Maybe it was because of the crowd down near Silena's grave, but it was unlike any other cemetery I've ever seen, which wasn't very much. Feeling a bit trapped in my own car, I opened the door and met with the wonderful air of summer breeze. I scanned the surrounding, it was a wooded area with tall trees, graves, flowers, cars parked randomly, Percy, bugs, grass- Percy?

Across from me partially hidden from view was the familiar guy with messy black hair and a black suit. I couldn't see his face, but I could tell from the position he was standing that he was staring down at the graves down the hill. His hand closed around the phone as if he had just finished an unpleasant conversation. In his other hand he held a can of drink, but considering he was still upright he still looks sober.

'Wait, what is he doing here?' I wondered in silence. He took a few steps forward to get a clearer view of the grave from far away, but that was it. He didn't rush down there, he just stood at the brink of the hill and stared down. Then a few minutes later he turned around to meet my face with an expression I never wanted to see on his face again.

Just as soon as I saw the expression, it disappear immediately as soon as he realized it was me, "A-Annabeth?" He stuttered. "What are you- why are you here-"

Then as if by a miracle, everything clicked in my head. Percy's friend Silena who died, and Piper's half-sister who died… they are the same person, small world much? But it almost seem as if Piper had never seen Percy before, if he was the cause of her half-sister's death wouldn't she know about this? Unless…

"My friend's half sister's funeral." I said simply as Percy shot me a confused look. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be working in your office?"

Percy smiled, "You're the one to be talking, you tried to sneak off work." He teased me but I could still see the lingering sadness in his eyes.

"Then why are you here?" I pressed again.

Percy shrugged, "Same as you I guess," He said unconfidently as he placed down his can.

"You're not joining the crowd down there?" I asked him cautiously, not sure how he would react because if I was correct…

His face looked so still I could've mistaken him for some stone statue, "I can't visit them." He said miserably.

I took a step towards him and stared down into the graves, "Those people are the friends you mentioned right? The two that died…" I recalled from my memory. "Silena and Beckendorf." I remembered.

Percy stuffed his hands in his pocket as if unsure of what to say, "Beckendorf was suppose to have a wife. Silena was suppose to have the wedding of her dreams. They were to have the life others can only dream about… but everything was ruined because of my rotten driving." Percy said softly. "It was after they were engaged, they were in love… but they died right after they got engaged."

I already inferred that he is presumed to be responsible for his friend's death, but hearing it from him with guilt evident in his voice almost made my heart break. I didn't know what to say, all I could do was stood and stare as Percy as he stared down at the crowd.

"You're already here, you might as well pay them your respect." I offered as a moment of silence has passed.

"I can't, I don't know why… I just can't bring myself to walk down there." Percy sighed.

"Paying your respect doesn't necessarily mean giving them flowers and everything." I began. "Just send them a small message in your head. I may not know much about religious stuff but I know the physical ritual is just to show it, you have to actually mean it."

I stepped in front of him and sat down right on the very top that overlooks almost the entire radius of the place. A few seconds later, there was a presence next to me. He sat down right next to me, "If I didn't know better, I'd say that you are a much better therapist than any I've ever seen." He managed a faint smile as he faced me.

"I've always been someone good to converse with." I grinned even though I knew that statement was completely false… what can I say, my pride got the best of me. I was never the one to be making the best of conversations, usually I'm the quiet nerd in the corner who never bothers to talk to anyone, but with Percy it's a bit different.

"Well then since it's your area of expertise, how would you respond to me when I say that I'm having second thoughts about my wedding with Rachel?" He asked me, his eyes looking through mine as if begging for an answer that he could never come up with. "It's like I'm more sure about the next lottery prediction then I am about the girl I'm going to marry."

"Well the chances of you winning the lottery is pretty slim-" I began with a slight smile.

Percy chuckled weakly, "No I'm actually serious."He pressed stuffed his hands in his jacket pocket. "I know I care about Rachel, I could possibly love her as well-" I felt my heart being hit by a pang of disappointment. "- but there's someone- something else…"

I pretended to not notice his slip from a person to a thing. "What's that?"

"I'm just having second thoughts about the girl I'm marrying-" He stopped and stared intently at me as if debating whether r or not to tell me.

I avoided his gaze, "Second thoughts are normal." I didn't want him to see how much I was hurting because he was here talking about how much he's worried about his wedding going wrong. I knew it he love Rachel, and he's stressing about his wedding… but I couldn't help but- forget it.

"No, not just second thoughts, third thoughts, forth thoughts! Even fifth thoughts!" Percy explained throwing his hands up in the air with frustration.

"It's okay, you're just a bit stressed." A bit confused of where he was going with this.

"I'm not stressed." He tried to tell as if wanting to make me understand. "It's- there's someone else." He said guiltily.

"Who-?" I didn't get to finish before he pulled me in close. His hands cupped around my face. His face inches from mine. Percy didn't hesitate another second before pressing his lips against mine.

He kissed me.

Aye aye aye bad AAZ you're a jerk… yes I am, but yeah life's hectic! Well I'm holding onto something secret that ARGH! Let's just say I never back down from a dare and I'm in for shit this time! So did my writing get rusty through all this break? I don't really know how good/bad it is cause well… I'm rusty? Added to the fact I couldn't type this up as fast since I was a stupid little kid and slammed my own finger with a car door… still bleeding…ouch…

Anyways quick question to all those Aphrodite boys and girls out there, "How do you know when you're actually in love?"

So who remembers the Backstreet Boys? They were like my one of my favorite childhood band! I Want It That Way- Backstreet Boys

Agent Astro Zombie